Sookie Stackhouse Says Happy Halloween Y'all

taking HitGirl's order

w/ the Last Airbender and my Alcide (she's wearing plaid under there)

sweet dreams from Maleficent

Oh my gawd ya'll, it's Jessica Brody as her character!

(To everyone who's waiting on emails/crits from me, I'll be back soon! Just in the middle of moving and student deadlines.)

My Gray Car: On Being Out As A Writer

I'm infinitely proud of my CP Juliana Brandt for hosting her very own blogfest!  I'm not surprised it's dedicated to celebrating each other as writers - Juliana is an incredibly supportive and positive writer.

The first week's question asks: How do you broach the subject of being a writer to other people who aren’t authors?


I live in L.A.

Everybody is a writer.  Even the actors (try to) write.  Even big-time directors "really want to write."

In fact, disclosing that I'm also a writer has a surprisingly beneficial effect of telegraphing my poverty-ridden status quickly and efficiently.  It signals to other writers that I'm not a viable money lender, to my a capella group that I'll be wearing a suspiciously similar dress for this upcoming concert, and to everyone else that my gray car is actually white.

Hey, car washes are not cheap in L.A.

On a serious note, I never introduce myself as a writer.  When people ask, "What do you do?" they mean for money.  When I was in The Biz (yeah I said The Biz), I didn't call myself an actor until I made money doing it.  (Good thing that happened really quickly, or I would have been a "um, nothing" for a long time.)

So I tell people what my money job is.  The writing might never come up at all.

The only people I actively avoid talking about writing with are my boyfriend's family and my father.  Old school Chinese who live by "show me the money."  I have no money to show them, but they're welcome to ride in my gray, I mean white car.

Those folks rarely ask about my writing anyway.  It's less than a hobby, like biking.  It's a shameful frivolity not worth mentioning.  I prefer it that way.  Their negativity and insulting comments are better left unsaid.  (We already know you don't want to write in a Chinese family.)

As Sinclair Lewis said:

It is impossible to discourage the real writers - they don't give a damn what you say, they're going to write.

Besides I have you guys.  That's all I need. :)

Oprah, Lesbiebers and 7 Posts You Don't Want To Miss

Thank you Ani at Anime's Musings and Alexis at Alexis Bass Writes About Writing.  I've been looking forward to this award for months!  

Goal: highlight previous posts in the superlative categories below.

Most Beautiful: Anti-Acknowledgements or Why You Don't Want to Write In A Chinese Family

Most Helpful: What Oprah's Book Editor Told Me 

Most Popular: June/Gay Pride Music Crush of the Month: Lesbians Who Look Like Justin Bieber (apparently I'm not the only one...)


Most Controversial: A Barbie for the Ladies, with Poll (only 18 more days to decide once and for all...)


Most Surprisingly Successful: Top 3 Things Well-Meaning Bloggers Do That Drive Readers Nuts


Most Underrated: Does Every YA Fantasy Heroine Need to Be Bad-Ass?


Most Pride Worthy: The Vow of Silence (featured ninja post at Ali Cross')


I'm passing this on to: my co-vlogger from Boba 4 Eva Krispy and Alz at A Nudge in the Right Direction


and thanks to:


from Nutschell at The Writing Nut

from Joy at CATHARSIS

My previous post for this award: All My Women Boyfriends (and 7 Random Facts)

October/Filipino-American Crush of the Month: Dante Basco

Happy Fil-Am Month!  In case it wasn't obvious:  I Love Filipinos.

Because I'm a round-eyed Asian, people thought I was Pinay.  I learned hip-hop by watching the Flips in middle school.  (And from MTV's The Grind.)

This month's hawtness is Dante Basco.  You see, we were supposed to talk on the phone and fall in lust love.  But he lost my number.  Here's what happened:

When I was a bright-eyed young actor starting out in Hollywood, I attended an Asian American award ceremony.  Afterward, I accosted Ang Lee.  Then I saw Dante.

It was like the Beatles coming to America.  My mind started chanting, "Ru-fio. Ru-fio."

I watched Hook like 20 times as a tween.  Now dreamboat Rufio, my future husband (after Keanu Reeves), was standing there in a suit.

I ran up to him and gushed and preened and you know what he did?  He asked for my number.

Do the Pinoy got game or what?

So of course I gave him my cell phone, landline, all three emails, home address, social security number and date of birth.  And pin.  Just in case he needed money to call me.

photo credit

I mean, could you say no to that smirk?

And he goes, "My name's Dante, so you better pick up when I call."

Okay that doesn't translate well in writing, but it was very smooth.  Trust me.  I was like, "Okay *giggle  I will *giggle any time of night is okay ."

After sleeping with the phone under my pillow for 3 months and my door unlocked in case he wanted to drop by, I finally accepted the truth.

He had lost my number.

photo credit

"My name's Dante, can you help me find Sophia's number?"

Clearly, Dante has been trying to find me.  So good readers, if you see Mr. Basco, please direct him here.  (My boyfriend has already been apprised of the situation.)

Dante, you owe me a phone call.

***

Thanks for all your suggestions for September's Book Crush of the Month.  The winner is Damon Salvatore from the Vampire Diaries.

*This (only slightly exaggerated) account happened YEARS ago - no disrespect to Dante's girl!  It was very sweet of him to entertain a fan.

Top 3 Things Well-Meaning Bloggers Do That Drive Readers Nuts

Do you want people to read your blog and comment?  Make it easy for them!

These are the Top 3 Things Well-Meaning Bloggers Do That Drive Me Readers Nuts.  

1) Word Verification on Comments

Why This is Annoying:  Unless you're Dooce, your blog isn't going to get that much spam.  This just adds another hoop for readers to jump through.  (And who can figure out what that upside-down word is anyway?) 

What the Big Guns Do:  You know those book blogs with 1397 followers and 68 comments on every single one of their reviews?  You know why they have so many comments?  They make it easy for their readers.  One click and you can move on.  This encourages people to comment away.

In the 4 years that I've had 5 different blogs, I've gotten ONE spam comment.  I'm still playing Little League with my under 200 followers, but even the Big Guns don't pain their readers with extra steps.  If you get - gawd forbid - ONE spam comment in your 4 years, just delete it.  Not that big of a deal.  

2) Partial-Feed for Readers

Why This is Annoying:  Avid blog readers subscribe to hundreds of feeds (I do).  The way we get through them all is by going quickly through our reader (I actually try to read every single blog).

Your followers don't have time to click through to every post. Please.  Make it easy for them. 

What the Big Guns Do:  In the last 6 months I've written to four blogs asking that they turn their full feed on.  That's how much I want to read your blogs.   Blogs with followers in the thousands replied yes.  Only one blog I've written to declined, but I guess they get a free pass since the god of writing advice Donald Maass is one of their bloggers.  Even then, I only click through when the link looks really good.  Instead, I spend my time reading your blogs with the friendly full feeds.

(I click on all of Donald Maass' posts.  He's a genius.)

3) Responding to Comments In Your Own Comments

Why This is the All-Time Most Annoying:  In essence, you're expecting your readers to hang around your blog, revisiting your posts day after day just to see if you've responded.  

Avid bloggers like me comment as much as possible.  They can barely remember whose blogs they last commented on, much less which post.  After a while, readers think you don't really care about their comments and will just stop.

What the Big Guns Do:  There are several work-arounds I've seen and I'll do my best to give you the pros and (mostly) cons of each of them.  Remember, I'm describing ease of use for the commenter, not the blog owner.

• Blogger: there is an option to subscribe to comments by email or in a feeder.  Who the heck wants to subscribe to a comments feed?!?
• WordPress: same option to subscribe, which ends up with a cluttered inbox full of other people's un-related comments and I have to log into my WordPress account to in order to unsubscribe once I finish reading the one response to me.  Highly annoying.  
• Disqus: a little unwieldy to sign up for and link all your logins, but once you've set it up, it will email you comment responses to you and you alone.  Not a bad option.
• Intense Debate: same as Disqus but easier to sign up for.

All of these still keep the conversation on your blog, which is a sneaky way to drive more traffic to you, but this is too selfish a tactic for me.

My Work Around: Commenting back.  Simple.  Respectful.  Supportive.  And shows other people that you care about what they have to say on their blog too, not just your own.  Sometimes I'll tweet the other person my response.  Email if it's a longer conversation.  The rare instance I comment on my own blog is to answer a question that other readers would want to see the answer to as well.  

The bottom line is - keep the conversation going.  It's a back and forth thing.  Make it easy to be your follower.

*These tips apply to regular ol' bloggers, not professional bloggers who earn substantial income from blogging.

I'm a Featured Ninja

I'm the featured Ninja at Ali Cross' Dojo today!

Check out my technique: the Vow of Silence and find out why I rarely never talk about my writing.


***

In other news...

YA Confidential has an epic giveaway that I hope you don't enter so I can win just kidding no I'm not.

In My Mailbox #4

hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren inspired by Alea

It's time to thank some giveaway hosts!

1. After Obsession (ARC) by Carrie Jones and Steven E. Wedel from Carolina Valdez Miller
2. WinterTown (ARC) by Stephen Edmond from Adventures in Children's Publishing
3. Wildefire by unfairly good-looking Karsten Knight from Brenda Drake

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Thank you for all the September Crush of the Month suggestions!  Great vampires and werewolves (and some regular old people).  And now...

I'm reposting my Afterglow review as part of Tracey Neithercott's Fall Book Club.

Excerpted summary from Goodreads:


A mysterious island.

An abandoned orphanage.

A strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience.

The afterglow:


I was never going to read this book.

I'd originally bought it as a birthday gift for my Boba 4 Eva co-vlogger Krispy - only she'd bought it four days before in a Border's closing sale.

Here I was, stuck with a creepy book with no easy return.

So I starting reading.

After 30 pages flew by I considered keeping it.

200 pages later I was hooked.  I'd stayed up until 6 a.m. reading books before, but never until 9 a.m.  (Yes, I said a.m.  Granted I didn't start until 5 a.m.)

Aptly published by Quirk, this debut novel at turns charmed, terrified, moved, and nauseated me.  (I don't recommend eating while reading...)

One of the most interesting things is seeing how Riggs wove the photos - all found and unaltered - into a narrative that was not only entertaining, but tightly woven with a terrific twist.  It's like reading an extremely well-written creative writing class prompt that continued until it became an emotionally true story.  The last two photos are just breathtaking; they stun the heart.

Jacob, the protag, has a wonderful voice, and each character is well-enunciated.  This is a rare book that stands out for its originality.  Don't you dare buy this in anything other than its hardcover - there's a cute little surprise on the cover underneath the jacket.

I'm so glad a mix-up forced me to read this book!

Choose My September Crush of the Month

I'm behind on my Book/Music Crush of the Month series!

Reasons:

photo credit

1. I read mostly YA and, other than Jacob Black (Team Jacob 4 LIFE), teen boys don't do it for me.
2. Karl Marsten, the werewolf from Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld series, is kind of sexy (are you seeing a werewolf theme here?)  But in that universe, my heart belongs to my inaugural Book Crush of the Month: Lucas Cortez.
3. I LOVE Joe Manganiello as Alcide; like, I can't breathe when he comes onscreen (definitely a werewolf theme here.)  But I'm a canon zealot - I don't like what True Blood does with the storyline.  That is NOT the Alcide I know!

Since there's no werewolf to stir my fancy this month, I need your help.  

Tell me who you're crushing on in the book/music/TVspinoff world this month and I will feature the most popular hottie in a few days.  Guys, girls, trans, doesn't matter to me.  Tell me, who's hot?

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

I NEVER had a school assignment that asked what we did on our summer vacay's - that always sounded like a cliche made up from the 50's, like the Easter Bunny or moms who wear aprons.  (Who does that other than hipsters??) (The only time I wore an apron was to model a designer one no one can afford for a trade show in NYC.)

So I'm THRILLED to be a part of fellow Campaigner Michael di Gesu's blogfest!

JUNE 

Camp NaNowriMo and high tea with the ladies from the Los Angeles Twilight Lovers Group (the same ones who were interviewed by msn.com - where I got to reenact Bella)

JULY 

Played Bellatrix at the Harry Potter midnight showing with Krispy (what's with me playing Bella-'s?) and a Gryffindor at the Harry Potter Exhibit at Nucleus Gallery

Possessing the Elder Wand

AUGUST

Krispy and I had a very gangster birthday at the 20's-40's-themed Cicada Club downtown.

Look - a photo of the elusive Alz!  Why is there a big purple splotch instead of her face?  Because if I show her face, she will hunt me down and kill me (and take back the Yellowfiendatee she sewed me).

Real life writer-blogger pals Anime and Nutschell (who took most of these photos) stopped by too:

And of course, SCBWI.  This was a GREAT summer.

Before They Were Published Interview

I'm interviewed over at Jest Kept Secret today for Jessica's series Before They Were Published!  It's one of the rare times I talk about my writing.

Jess is not only a fellow Campaigner, but we share a CP (Juliana), which makes us CPs-in-law...? :)

She's on the lookout for more writers to feature, so head on over!

Top 5 2012 YA Books To Look Forward To

This is a Mini Challenge by Princess Bookie, though I have way more than 5.  Interesting that they're all sequels - I'm a HUGE series girl.  I can't stand when stories end!

1. 

2.

3. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

4. 

5. 

10 Random Facts

Alz and fellow Campaigner Cheryl Reif  tagged me, though I'm not sure what more I can share that you don't already know from this list of cool experiences from Harvard and Hollywood and this list of weird health ailments :D

1) I'm trained as both a life coach and a woo-woo therapist

2) Yes, I once danced with one of Britney Spears' back-up dancers at a club so exclusive it was inside another club.

3) I adopted my dog by accident.  At the shelter, I'd put a hold on both him and this chihuahua (I know, right) and I was going to cancel his hold and go with the little yapper, but they didn't spay her in time (a harder procedure for females) and neutered him instead.  So I brought Terry home and now he's my son.

4) Before Terry, we fostered MANY dogs from pugs to chis.  My favorite breed is still pit bulls, like Manny.

5) I love handmaking cards

6) I find everything in restaurants too sweet and too salty.

7) Two words: neti pot.  (After blogging about my daily headaches, Suz suggested this cure.)

8) I hate anime.  I'm sorry!  Those squeaky pedophiliac girl voices freak me out.

9) I'm a cry-baby.  I cried twice during Encino Man.

10) One last time: TEAM JACOB!  Vote for your team here.

1000 Mile Weekend

Sorry I'm behind on the writer's campaign and CPing - I was getting card sharked by this kid:

that's his lucky egg on the table

(also quite competitive at Mario Kart Double Dash)


We logged over 1000 miles this weekend driving up here:

Then up to Sonoma for a wedding, then all over the East Bay to see my two favorite cousins:

The hulking one on the right drove his friend to Stanford all the way from Jersey.  Good friend or insane?

Now it's time for me to finally sleep.

Guess That Asian!

It's time for the 2011 Guess That Asian! ::crowd goes wild::

Head on over to the official contest page at Jo Whittemore's blog and you could win books by amazing Asian writers.

In other news, I'm insane participating in the Third Writer's Platform Building Campaign.  Between this, real NaNoWriMo and the upcoming crunch time at work, I should probably quit my Cityville addiction.

Singing with Project Glee at the Angel Awards

Damian, Samuel, me, Lindsay and Marisa (another Yardbird soprano)

Last night the Harvard Yardbirds, my a capella group, performed at Project Angel Food's Angel Awards honoring Glee producer Dante Di Loreto.  (Look, we're even mentioned in Los Angeles magazine!)

What a surprise to run into our fellow performers: three of the finalists from The Glee Project!  Damian, Samuel and Lindsay were super sweet (and really tall! I'm wearing 4-inch heels in the photo.)

We got to catch Damian's sound check, where his Irish accent killed the Yardbird ladies:

We were okay too...

Catch the finale of The Glee Project tonight and see if one of these adorable singers lands a spot on Glee!

Wordless Wednesday: On 3 or After 3? Birthday Preview!

Happy Birthday To Me

Ahem, I have an announcement...

It's my birthday weekend!  Consider this video from a recent Toys 'R' Us trip my gift to you.  Please don't blackmail me with it.

I'll be sharing the celebration with Krispy on Sunday at a 20's-40's themed restaurant/lounge.  We will post ridic-pix.

For my birthday, I'd like a 3-book deal with movie-tie-in.  I get to play my MC, of course.  Barring that, I'll settle for something off my wish list.  Oh yeah.  I am not above groveling for gifts.

Liebster Award

Thank you Bluestocking for the Liebster award!

This award is intended to connect bloggers, specifically those with less than 200 followers. In accepting the award, I must:

• Show my thanks to the blogger who gave me the award by linking back to them.
• Reveal my top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
• Post the award on my blog.
• Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the internet—other writers.
• And best of all – have fun and spread the karma.

These blogs are on my Gold Class list in Google Reader:

1. A Nudge in the Right Direction - Alz and Krispy, my co-vlogger from Boba 4 Eva
2. A Glimpse of Wistfulness - Linda whose photos of life in Taiwan make me jealous every day
3. I Aspire To Be - Juliana Brandt is so real in her blog
4. You Are the Unicorn of My Dreams - Lori M. Lee's blog. The name is award-worthy enough.
5. Anime's Musings - Ani is an original girl-boyfriend and a fellow sufferer of Harry Potter Hex

SCBWI: Asian Edition

see how Texas sweetheart she is?

I finally got to hug my girl-boyfriend Jo Whittemore!

Lisa Yee signs her books

I pulled this one from Jo's twitter feed - we're Charlie's Angel-ing at dinner with the super-German, Asian-approved Kristen Kittscher.  Jo was such a celebrity, we kept getting pulled from the table to take photos.

At kidlit drinks on the final night I was inducted into the annual Guess the Asian photo.  Don't ask me how it works, I just posed and smiled.  I would tell you who's in the photo, but I'm not sure how much I'm supposed to give away.  Details on the Guess the Asian contest to come...

We also hung out with Cindy Pon and the camera-eluding Ellen Oh, who should be a stand-up comedian.  She's my badass homegirl from NYC (REPRESENT!!)

Still to come...Why Jay Asher probably thinks I'm his stalker...

Mashti Malone

I'm off to the 40th SCBWI Conference!  If you're going, be sure to find the Asian who's constantly eating.  

I'll leave you with some Saffron Rosewater ice cream from Mashti Malone, one of the many hipster haunts L.A. is plagued with offers.

Here I am with Karyn and her husband after a double date to Iris, the Cirque du Soleil show at the Kodak Theater (home of the Oscars).

***

48 Hour Dark Marathon is still going on!  I've completed 2 rounds already (that's 4 days of no personal-use internet) and I'll get one more round in before it ends next Monday.  You can still sign up!

July Dance Crush of the Month

Whoops, I went 48 Hours Dark before I could post my July Book Music Dance crush of the month: Marko Germar from So You Think You Can Dance.  By far Marko is the sexiest of my crushes.

For those who don't follow SYTYCD, here's why Marko makes me weak in the knees:

• When the store he worked in was held up, he stood up to the gunman.  He was shot in the shoulder and the bullet is STILL there.  The guy still dances like a master.
• He's Filipino from Guam.  My previous crushes should've made clear I'm all over the Asian-Spanish thing.
• While his multi-genre dancing is RIDICULOUS, I didn't develop my lust until this tango:

Something about that open-collared shirt and the dominance.  Watch just the first 10 seconds of this dance - the little flick of the sleeve before he stalks Melanie.


Melanie  Marko - Tango by choco-intense

***
Congrats to everyone who finished their first 48 Hour Dark Experiment!  You can still sign up HERE for the marathon.  I'm beginning my second session as soon as this posts.

48 Hour Dark Experiment Marathon: July 31st-August 8

It's what you've been asking for: the third run of the 48 Hour Dark Experiment, my internet-quitting boot camp.  That's 2 full days unplugged and procrastination-free.  Just in time to prep for SCBWI.

This time - marathon style. 

The rules again:

• Internet usage while at work FOR WORK PURPOSES ONLY doesn't count.  Allot time for that.  I will give myself a total of 30 minutes each day to be divided into 3 increments.
• If email is vital to your work as a writer, allot the necessary time.  For instance, I owe some pages to a critique partner.  It should take me only 3 minutes to draft up a critique email and send it.
• NO blogging, reading other blogs, surfing the internet, twittering, facebooking, stumbling upon, digging, Google+ing, gchatting, yahoo talking, AIMing, iChatting, liking, updating books on Goodreads, Grouponing, crying, whining, eating too much ice cream.  (Because that's bad for you.)  

Here's how the marathon is going to work:

• From July 31st-August 8th you will pick ANY 48-hour period to go dark.  
• Pick as many 48-hour periods as you like.  I recommend one if this is your first time.  As the creator, I will try to do one after another, with maybe a few hours of internet fast breaking in between.  In fact I might start early.
• Sign up below with Mr. Linky.
• Whenever you're not dark during that week, feel free to visit the blogs below and leave encouraging messages.  Or stalk them and slap them (virtually) if you catch them online.

You don't have to follow me or spread the word..  Do this because you have a problem, a problem like mine, which is watching too much time go to Mother Internet.  This is the third time I've done this and I'm extremely productive when I go dark.  I also come back with better discipline.

YES there is a prize.

I'd like to interview and feature the blogger who logs the most 48-hour dark periods during this marathon.  This is because I and the addict public would like to know how you did this without dying.

It's time to kick the habit, addicts.  The strong will survive. 

Sign up will remain open the whole marathon - join anytime!

Summer 2011 Diversity Your Reading Challenge

glamorous Cindy and me at YA In Bloom last month

Diversity in YA, run by Cindy Pon and Malinda Lo, is holding a summer reading challenge with AMAZING book prizes! 

There's a kick-off giveaway, just for...um, kicks.  (Man my brain function's really taken a downhill turn since the post-Harry Potter mental illness.)

And an essay contest at the end for a huge motherload of books.

Go check it out.  Go now. 

(psst - recognize the other author behind us in the photo?)

Pitch Contest with Victoria Marini

Chanelle at Beyond Words is hosting a pitch contest judged by her agent Victoria Marini.  Another great thing about Chanelle's blog is that she lists giveaways in her sidebar for easy entering.  Good luck!

Afterglow Book Reviews: BUMPED

I'm a book reviewer!  A while back I joined Afterglow, the site for those of us who don't want to bask alone in the sweaty light of after-book love.  My first glow is of, fittingly, Bumped by Megan McCafferty, the first book I read in ONE NIGHT and I review it as a writer as much as a consumer.

Slytherin in the House

Slytherin, Bellatrix (me), Sirius (Krispy), Gryffindor (Ani), Slytherin Quidditch

Krispy and I finally met Ani at last week's Harry Potter midnight showing, where we had a strong Slytherin representation.

Before you all go in an uproar, I sorted into Gryffindor.  BUT...the Death Eaters have cooler costumes.

yes this is a nice Muggle restaurant, I'm still gonna Cruciatus you

And then all 3 of us bloggers got sick after the showing.  Whoever hexed us, I will hunt you down with my Bellatrix brand of crazy.