I awoke to the wonder of a sunny sky and a plowed street. Yay! The downside, of course, is that Sailor Boy and I both seem to have caught some kind of crud, and neither of us feel like spending hours shoveling out to said plowed street. Rio, however, is once again interested in visiting the outside world, and our visiting dog has decided to grace us with her presence (she spent all of yesterday hibernating upstairs).

I just want to lie around drinking soup and watching Emma on PBS. I’m enjoying it, though years of watching the Gwyneth Paltrow version makes it all seem to be moving super slowly. It’s like every offhand mention of anything occurring in the book requires an entire scene in this film. Mr. Knightley tells Emma that Robert Martin came to see him? The film shows several scenes worth of Robert Martin coming to see him: Robert Martin approaching the estate, Robert and Knightley talking, and then, you know, just so we get the full and complete picture of the situation, Robert Martin leaving the estate.

Seriously?

Also the casting is giving me fits. I can’t really picture Johnny Lee Miller as anything but the kid from Hackers (and the imagined image of him and a young Angelina Jolie getting married in blood spattered t-shirts is indelible), and Romola Garai is the chick from the Dirty Dancing sequel. Didn’t like her in that, either. I wish she’d close her mouth every once in a while.

I think the problem is that I don’t much like Emma. I think it’s probably fourth or fifth on my list of Austen, and while my two favorite Austens (Pride & Prejudice and Persuasion) are among my favorite books of all time, I’ve discovered that I’m not going to fall all over an Austen just because it’s an Austen. I feel the same way about Mansfield Park. There are parts of it I really like, but Fanny never did it for me, and her relationship with her cousin? (I mean, aside from all the squicky cousins-raised-as-siblings-still-in-love thing that was apparently appropriate in Austen’s day.) Meh.

But I’m only through part 1 of 3, so we’ll see. I did find the Emma/Knightley romance arresting as a teenager, but now I don’t think I can handle the patronizing way Knightley treats Emma. I find their age difference more unsettling now.

Okay, I think I’m feeling a little better now. Time to get up and see about shoveling that driveway.

We got twenty inches of snow this weekend. It was the most snow I — Florida girl that I am — had ever seen. It was also the most snow the DC native I married had ever seen. Our power stayed on throughout the blizzard, but several of our friends weren’t so lucky. Those that weren’t, came to camp out at our place.

Yes, that’s right. We had a huge SLUMBER PARTY.

Actually, it was so much fun, we wondered why we’d never done it before. Why did we stop having slumber parties as teens? We played board games, baked brownies and cookies (the latter at eleven o’clock at night), watched movies, talked, played in the snow, made French toast in the mornings, ate ice cream for dinner. (Well, some of us. I had spaghetti.) Actually, we ate so much food this weekend. It was ridiculous. There was always something on the stove. The list of things made to eat in our house this weekend:

• brownies
• hot cocoa
• tea
• nachos
• baked pasta with peas and cream sauce
• macaroni and cheese
• peas and carrots
• coffee
• french toast
• grapefruit halves
• spaghetti with bolognese
• chocolate chip pecan cookies
• chicken noodle soup
• lamb curry
• popcorn

And all that stuff is gone now. All gone. Not to mention several pints of ice cream, a ton of veggies and chips and salsa and hummus, several gallons of milk, a gallon each of limeade and orange juice, candy, nuts, oranges…Yep, I think we staved off the cold pretty well. At one point, we had seven people and three dogs in our little house. It was a rollicking good time.

Were you caught in the storm this weekend? What did you do?

I know I’ve been a bad blogger this week. I’m totally swamped with work and other commitments. Next week should be better. In the meantime, enjoy this video, which I found strangely compelling and beautiful:

1. I’ve been working really hard on revisions for KU2.
2. Which have been hampered sadly, by Pantalaimon’s timely/untimely (depending on which Apple Genius you ask) death.
3. I have been doing some home repairs chez Diana
4. Which include a massive tree removal operation which rendered my office about 12 times more sunny, which I’m sure I’ll appreciate in the coming winter months but which makes me think I should have gone for an anti-glare screen in my new computer. Also, I’ll probably want to plant something new so I have some shade next summer.

But, don’t worry. I’ll be back soon. Like when Fed Ex decides to get off its butt and deliver my new computer. Stupid Columbus Day.

In other news, check out this great new review of Rampant from In Between the Pages:

I loved Astrid. She kicks butt in so many ways. Plus, she’s a science nerd like me. Chem major all the way! The characters were all very layered and unexpected, with none of them conforming to stereotypes. The jock was extremely nice and grounded, while the girls who appeared to be nasty ended up having hearts. Then there were the boys. Who doesn’t love a guy that enjoys art and speaks Italian? (melt)

But first: To the person who, unfortunately, landed on my non-fiction page in a quest to discover if “UGLIES is considered a fiction or non-fiction book”: It’s fiction, dude. FICTION. And no, not all fiction is fantasy. I sometimes have this conversation with people who tell me they don’t read fiction, and that their favorite book is like, The Kite Runner or The Da Vinci Code or something. Fiction means made up. Not necessarily that it’s got hobbits and magic wands.

Okay, moving along. So I’m headed out to Dragon*Con in two days, and I’m still trying to put my costumes together. My first costume is totally awesome. I’ll have pictures soon. It’s supposed to have gloves, but it’s Atlanta on Labor Day weekend and I can’t tell you how much that’s not happening. My second costume is…. problematic. It’s supposed to be steampunk, but as I put the various and sundry elements together I realized I may have overdosed on the steam and underdosed on the punk. It’s currently sort of this unacceptable mix of Victorian schoolmarm and can-can dancer. So I need to figure out how I can fix that…. in two days. part of the problem, i think is that it’s black, white, and silver, which sort of X-es out all those cool copper steampunk accoutrements. And I really don’t want to lose the silver.

These are the current elements:

black and white striped detachable bustle:

This is about calf length in the back and hip length in the front. It’s very frustrating since, a few inches longer and I could just wear this as a skirt.

My awesome black and silver crinoline:

This pictures doesn’t really do it justice. It’s so big and poofy, and the silver trim is actually lamé. I love it. SB says it’s too poofy and detracts from the bustle though.

And then, a top:

So… that’s what I’ve got. Plus about a million different black or white skirts I’ve tried on with it, from the short to the long from the poofy to the slim, and a ton of other black or white shirts… oh, and my suede lace up boots, which are perfect.

I think if I can find a cool steampunk pattern cloth in the fabric store, I might make a gathered overskirt to go over the crinoline and under the bustle, and then I can probably find a waist cincher pattern online somewhere and I can make the same material. The material is the tricky part. Maybe I can stencil. Will have to be done quickly too.

OR, maybe I can borrow my friends cool overcoat. that might go really well with this. I’ll ask her.

I’m open to suggestions.

Okay, so first thing’s first: that event I mentioned last week? I’m going to DragonCon! I’ve been invited by the lovely C.L. Wilson to share a booth in the exhibit hall with her and some other writers (list of my co-presenters forthcoming, and yes, I’m an utter flake for not having it right on hand). And so far, I’ve booked at least one panel:

Title: Writing for the YA and Children’s Market Description: How to write for an audience that’s half your age–or less. Tapping into the minds of today’s young people–what DO they want to read?
Time: Sun 11:30 am
Location: Manila / Singapore / Hong Kong - Hyatt
(Length: 1 Hour)

So come find me at DragonCon! I will have many copies of the hot-off-the-presses RAMPANT for your signing, holding and reading-under-the-covers-with-a-flashlight pleasure.

Fourteen days, y’all.

This will be my first trip to a fantasy convention of any kind. Nothing like jumping into the deep end, right? However, I have heard from friends who’ve been that the number one absolutely essential item at DragonCon is a costume. And since I am a veritable costume NUT, I could hardly sleep last night trying to figure out what I would wear. I refuse to be outdone by Maureen Johnson, who doesn’t even write fantasy. Oops, I mean, Devilish, which was actually awesome. Devils and pastries are always a good combination.

Anyway, costumes. Right. So… what to wear? I mean, do I go all out with a cosplay kind of thing? (Sailor Boy is very skeptical of this, by the way, as every time I mention it his eyebrows go up and he’s all, “Really?” as if he hasn’t known me for 9 years, didn’t meet me in my guise as a costume designer,  and didn’t sit through my whole, “Let’s have a COSTUME wedding!” scheme before nixing it.) And if I do decide to go as a particular character, who do I pick? If you watch that video I linked to up above, you can see how some of those people are severely hampering their ability to do anything other than cosplay at DragonCon. I don’t want to be that person.

I also do not want to be the person who is sitting at her booth in the exhibit hall, trying to sign copies of her new, very modern set YA fantasy novel and having people ask her why the hell she’s dressed up like Eowyn if her book takes place in Rome in 2009.

And no, I’m not dressing up like one of my own characters. To quote the pre-Ari Gold Jeremy Pivens from PCU: one does not wear the t-shirt of the band you’re going to see at the concert.*

Not that I would be Eowyn, anyway.

Option Two, of course, is just to wear a general costumey thing. This is the option favored by my pal Marianne Mancusi. Her favorite aesthetic is called “Gothic Lolita,” and she talks about it at length here. My favorite aesthetic would, of course, be steampunk.** And of course, at a place like DragonCon, I could take the steampunk aesthetic one step farther than the usual jeans and white blouse with a velvet jacket and lace up boots look.I mean, goggles!***

The problem is, a lot of what the people out there selling clothing/costumes seem to think is “steampunk” is a bit more like Marianne’s “gothic lolita” if you ask me. Or perhaps too much punk (or goth/fetishwear) and not enough steam. Or just weirdly burlesque and uncomfortable. I’m not a steampunk stripper, y’all. I’m a children’s author.

Also, IMO, you can’t take a long skirt, rip big scraggly holes in it, and call it steampunk. It’s just spiderwebby. The definition of steampunk does not begin and end with “something Helena Bonham Carter would wear.” FWIW.

And there is also the whole commitment issue. I have nothing against people who want to go to a con and wear a costume and have that be their thing, but I have a tough time believing that I myself could be comfortable wandering around in something like this:

Kinda The Borg Do Steampunk, yeah? Outside of an actual production of Cirque du Soleil, this isn’t going to work.

So, yeah. Hopefully there is a happy medium to be had, in between my usual fare and the all out wackadoodle stuff. I pretty much want normalish, kicked up a notch. Because, y’know. DragonCon.

However, if I were to dress up as a character, who should I be? Leave your suggestions here.****

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* I believe it’s important to reveal at this moment that I totally just put together that was a very young Jon Favreau in that movie who is the recipient of Pivens’s criticism.

** Dude, I’ve never been so happy as I was when I discovered there was actually a name to describe all the velvet military jackets and bustled skirts and lace up boots in my wardrobe.

*** No, not really goggles. But maybe a pocket watch.

**** Please do not say Kara Thrace. Yes, I know I have short blonde hair. Still not happening.

Hi guys! I’m still snowed under, but keep those entries going in the Bite Me Giveaway Post. I’ll keep it open until Friday.

A few links of interest from around the web:

Alaya Dawn Johnson’s take on Angry Black Woman regarding the Larbalestier cover controversy. One of the side issues of this whole kerfuffle to me is that LIAR, which is an incredibly awesome novel, is getting way more press for its disingenuous cover than for the amazing story contained inside. I hope it doesn’t overshadow the wonderfulness of the novel.

100 Scope Notes gallery of joke YA covers. Playing off the cliches of modern YA title and cover conventions, we automatically generated a few. These are the results. And yes, I am so calling YANK. I picture it as a sort of modern, Palahniuk body-horror kind of thing. Of the ones I didn’t make myself, I’m particularly partial to BEND and WONDER.

Jenny Crusie talks about turning points. Always a good thing to keep in mind, and very similar to my own “four act” plotting method.

I am of two minds about posting this. On one hand, the casting decisions have cast a dreadful pallor over the entire production. (Pun intended.) On the other hand, other than the part where the dude takes off his hood and it’s so not Aang, I feel like I recognize this. I recognize the sets, I recognize the shots, it all seems so right. Like a cartoon come alive.

Looking at this is like the first time I saw the teaser trailer for LOTR and it was a shot of Eowyn stepping out of Edoras and looking over the mountains and I turned to Sailor Boy and went, “Wow, this film looks like such a LOTR ripoff,” and then it actually was LOTR and my heart soared.

Dare I give M. Night another chance, even after the mess he made of the casting? (Jasper as Sokka? Gah.) Even after the unbearable dreck that was The Lady in the Water? (Please, please, M. do not cast yourself as Firelord Ozai. Please.)

(Or, even worse, Roku. For the love of everything holy.)

Dare I hope that this could actually still be good?

(Thanks to my brother-in-law for sending this to me. He’s become quite the Avatar fanboy ever since SB and I turned him on to it.)

Yesterday’s little creative endeavor* really jumpstarted my work. I went into the day completely fired up and got a ton of writing done. Yay, me!

I wonder whose poetry I can mangle in the name of art today?

Actually, I don’t think it’s in the cards today. I’m so busy I can barely see straight. Work, preparing for houseguests, and a puppy whose persistent limp since Saturday morning has me finally breaking down and calling the vet to make sure it’s not something serious.

Gah. Okay. off to get started. Maybe I’ll be by a bit later with something more fun.

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* Unfortunately, I’m not sure I quite got it across that I was making the whole thing up?

This looks fun: Kelsey of Reading Keeps you Sane, Khyrinthia of Frenetic Reader, Jordyn of ten cent notes, Persnickety Snark, and Trish Doller compiled lists of their favorite YA crushes. It was interesting to see, as some of them crushed on characters other put on their “least favorite” lists. I was wondering who would be on mine. (Dude, Logan, if TV counts. which I don’t think it does.)

Boys List

1. Edmund Pevensie. My love of Kind Edmund the Just of Narnia is well-documented. You can pick up a copy of Into the Wardrobe and read all about it. I wonder, however, if it counts as YA? Possibly not in Wardrobe, but he’s older and wiser in Prince Caspian and Dawn Treader (and way older and wiser in Horse, which is where I truly swoon) so I’m going to count it. Honestly, the only male in that seires I love more is Reepicheep, and you guys are sure to think I’m gross for saying that.

2. Gilbert Blythe. Swoonie swoon swoon. You want to hear why I love Gilbert? This is why. He’s so sexy and stalwart. And plus, he’s the hero of one of my favorite novels of all time (Anne of the Island).

3. Remus Lupin. Yeah, I know he’s an adult in a YA novel, but I was an adult when I read it, and I just found him adorable. Rumpled, long-suffering, brilliant, tortured. I was so sad when he broke poor Tonks’s heart. Again and again. And then… man, now I’m getting all teary. RIP, Remus.

4. Ravus of Valiant. Rrroawr. I seriously need me some troll love. Why was that never a thing, the way vampires were? Sexy sexy. There is nothing I like more than a troll who can teach me how to swordfight.

5. Hmmmmm…. this last one is tricky. Should I pick Po of Graceling? Evan of Bloom? Rex of Midnighters? Kartik of the Gemma Doyle Trilogy? Drew of Major Crush? Should I just call it a tie? Okay, even narrowing down, there is no way I can decide between Po and Rex. No, it’s Rex. Man, I love Rex. I love how great he is with Melissa, I love what a badass he is after he’s darklingified. I just love Rex.

Girls List

1. Aravis Tarkheena from A Horse and His Boy. She’s so kickass.

2. Sophie and Darla of Dull Boy. It’s a twofer of superheroey goodness! Actually, we can add Catherine into that, too. It’s three amazingly awesome heroines in one novel!

3. Elnora Comstock of A Girl of the LImberlost. Dare I say it? Even cooler than Anne Shirley.

4. Dess of Midnighters. Run away with me, Dess! You deserve so much more than being stuck in that one-darkling town!

5. Man, I know I’m forgetting heaps. Like Diana Holland of The Luxe, who is delicious and irrepressible. And Philippa Gordon of Anne of the Island. And Tally Youngblood, natch. Ooh, and Nicolette from Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress. And Bitterblue of Graceling, who, is it just me, but does she have a bit of the Alia Atreides about her? Am I wrong? Oddly prescient, wise beyond her years Bitterblue? But I digress. Ooh, and Alanna of Trebond. How could i forget her!

Too bad I can’t do that for TV too. Willow Rosenburg and Cordelia Chase and Veronica Mars and Mac would certainly have made the cut.