http://www.dianapeterfreund.com Just another WordPress weblog Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:06:07 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Today I'm Guest Blogging over at Justine Larbalestier's site. I'm talking about inspiration, Velcro, ice cream cones, and the movie Working Girl. http://www.dianapeterfreund.com/guest-blogging-for-justine-on-inspiration/ So I got back from having the worst manicure in the world with New York Times Bestseller Carrie Ryan to discover that word on the street is out about my new anthology, KISS ME DEADLY: 13 Tales of Paranormal Romance. It's the follow-up to last year's THE ETERNAL KISS, which was ... http://www.dianapeterfreund.com/kiss-me-deadly/ John Scalzi and Justine Larbalestier are talking about "owning" your one star reviews on Amazon. I went to go look mine up, only to discover that, to my shock, I don't have any one star reviews on Amazon. Given the angst I've felt over Amazon reviews in the past, I ... http://www.dianapeterfreund.com/the-joy-of-bad-reviews/ This month, I'll be attending the New York City Teen Author Festival. I will be appearing at the following festival events: NYC Teen Author Festival Symposium DATE: Friday, 3/19 LOCATION: New York Public Library, South Court, 42nd Street TIME:  2:10-3:00 P.M. Using Genre to Tell the True Story of Adolescence featuring: Judy Blundell, Sarah ... http://www.dianapeterfreund.com/upcoming-events-nyc-teen-author-festival/ Each clue in the Beautiful Creatures: Unlock the Curse Contest involves a powerful or magical object, a talisman of some kind, found in one of six supernatural novels.  Solve each clue and complete each challenge to win Genevieve's locket - the powerful Civil War talisman that unlocks the mystery of ... http://www.dianapeterfreund.com/beautiful-creatures-contest-clue/ The reason I haven't blogged much this week is that I'm sick. I hate being sick. Hate hate hate. So when I'm sick, on top of feeling like crap, I'm in a pretty poisonous mood. At which point, it's usually better that I just stay off my blog. Either that ... http://www.dianapeterfreund.com/what-ive-been-up-to-3/ I had a lovely weekend. Marianne Mancusi came to visit. We went out to dinner, took Rio hiking, visited the spy museum, watched a rather disappointing chick lit (Why, Dear John? Why?) and baked muffins. We also talked NON STOP about books. These are Marianne's recent YA books. They're about a ... http://www.dianapeterfreund.com/heist-society-winner-and-weekend/ Firstly: the HEIST SOCIETY GIVEAWAY is still going strong. Get those entries in today! Secondly: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, the authors of BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, are on their way to Seattle, Chicago & the Bay area for the second leg of their book tour. They are hosting a special contest in honor ... http://www.dianapeterfreund.com/beautiful-creatures-unlock-the-curse-contest/ Quickly, because it's a gorgeous morning outside, and I'm about to blow Rio's puppy mind by taking her for an actual hike for the first time since the blizzard... The other day, I met up with the awesome Ally Carter on her DC stop for her Heist Society Tour. She sounds ... http://www.dianapeterfreund.com/heist-society-giveaway/ So this post started life a few weeks ago as a conversation with Carrie about what "dystopia" actually meant in the context of writing dystopic fiction. Carrie's opinion, which I've since confirmed is the prevailing one, is that a dystopia is a society featuring negative/miserable/oppressive/violent conditions. My understanding of a ... http://www.dianapeterfreund.com/diana-on-dystopia/