~~~Lara Zielin~~~

I was recently approached by Marshal, who runs a blog with a great premise: If your book was made into a movie, how would you cast it? My book club and I play this game all the time. And I loved thinking about this in relation to DONUT DAYS. Marshal has my response posted on his blog, and I hope you’ll click over to visit.

And no, Robert Pattinson is NOT in the movie.

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: The stupid things people say on Facebook.

My friend Colleen has launched a month of gratitude over on her awesome blog, and she’s encouraging people to get in the spirit of thanksgiving.

You bet I’m jumping on that super cool bandwagon.

And even though I have about a bazillion, jillion things to be thankful for, there’s one in particular that I want to blog about.

My agent.**

I know there are a lot of awesome agents out there. I’m sorry but mine is the absolute best.

I tell this story a lot, but it’s worth re-telling on the blog: A few years ago, I attended the Backspace Writers’ Conference in New York and asked my agent (who was at that time not my agent) if she would meet with me while I was in the Big Apple. I’d queried her and had a roundabout  introduction to her through a published friend, and even though she didn’t really know me from Adam (or Eve for that matter), she agreed to lunch. Prior to us meeting, I sent her not one but TWO of my books, which she not only read by the time we had lunch, but which she also provided feedback on while we ate. Did I mention she’d read both? Two books, people.

She was kind, gracious, and took time for someone who, by all accounts, probably shouldn’t have registered on her radar. At lunch that day, I asked her if I made revisions to my novels if I might send them to her again. She said yes. For the following months I did largely nothing but revise DONUT DAYS. When I re-sent it to her, she accepted it and from then on she was my agent. But you know what? To this day I still am floored (and tremendously grateful) that she didn’t just tell me that she’d already been generous enough with her time and that I should probably go bug someone else. She could have said that, and it would have been very, very fair. But she didn’t.

Since then, I’ve sent a fair handful of books to my agent. Some of them have worked. Some, not so much. What I’m thankful for, though, is that my agent gets me, and she works to further my writing career in a way that jives with my (oftentimes impatient and oftentimes scattered) personality. My agent is always in my court. Always.

I’m also thankful that my agent is part of an amazing literary agency that’s run with integrity and kindness. In the publishing world, especially these days, there are a lot of ways to do business. They choose to do it the right way.

I shudder to think where I’d be without my agent. Maybe I would have found someone else but I guarantee they wouldn’t be as smart, as committed, or as patient.

So thanks, awesome agent. I am thankful for you and your agency colleagues every day.

** Please do not ask me if you can email my agent and use my name. Please do not email my agent after reading this unless you have read every single post on this blog. Thank you.

I hide my weakness well. I’m functional. I have a loving husband. A beautiful home. Fabulous hair and makeup if I do say so myself. But I confess I have a fountain pop addiction. It bubbles up inside me almost constantly.

It started off innocently enough. My husband and I would get Big Gulps at 7-Eleven and giggle at the sheer volume of beverage in our hands. We’d carry our plastic cups past the Funyons and Bud Light, tickled that we could have this much fun with something that made us pee almost constantly.

Right away I wanted another. Then another. I’d sneak back to 7-Eleven, watch the brown syrup foam out of the dispenser next to the crystal carbonation and I’d think, this is it. I don’t need anything else. That sweet, sweet Aspartame would hit my throat and I’d close my eyes and know what chemical heaven tasted like.

Soon, I was asking my husband to run out and get Big Gulps for me at all hours, day or night. I started craving them at work. I’d lose focus in meetings. The end of the fiscal Big Gulp? You need your carbonated beverage collated?

At work, I started wandering out over my lunch hour in search of the biggest super-sized drink I could find, and I’d come back to my office in a carbonated stupor. It wasn’t a Big Gulp, but it did the job. Crack is whack, but you still use it if you gots to.

I tried to wean myself by drinking diet soda from a can, but it was like swigging mountain- goat gin. I don’t even know what mountain-goat gin is, but I swear to god that’s what it was like.

This month, instead of buying the book for book club, I bought a fountain drink. I sucked on it at Borders while I sat in their cafe and read the book I was supposed to have bought. I sucked on my pop teat until the straw made noises and the manager came over and asked me to please buy a coffee or something from the cafe if I was going to sit there and read their books for free and not pay for them, this wasn’t a library after all. I just looked at him. I couldn’t afford a coffee. I had spent all my money on fountain pop.

7-Eleven used to take only cash, but they recently had a credit card machine installed. There is no minimum amount required for purchase. That means that when my husband opens this month’s MasterCard statement, he will see 196 instances of $2.33. All from 7-Eleven. Oh, and there’s one for $4.67 because one time I really wanted a jumbo sized Tootsie Roll to go with my soda.

My teeth hurt.

Please don’t judge me. I can’t help what I am. I am no monster. I’m just someone who is choosing to spend their free time and money with their best friend who happens to be carbonated. And delicious.

I can’t type for much longer. The tunnel vision is setting in, and my hands are startinggg to sshake. I nnnneed the next fiix. I hope I fiind it soon.

**  Names and places have been changed to protect the identity of people who may or may not have a problem with pop. This is a work of fiction. Mostly.

DONUT DAYS was just selected for the 2010 Texas Lone Star Reading List!

I am so excited! The first honor for my first book.

Yay! THANK YOU Texas Library Association!

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: A Dr. Horrible prequel! Okay, caveat time: it’s not technically made by Joss Whedon. But still. A Dr. Horrible prequel!!!

A lot of the early Oscar buzz is around the movie Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire. The film looks amazing, but so too is the author’s journey getting this book to screen.

Sapphire was approached by several filmmakers about the movie rights. One was an NYU student who barely knew what he was doing film-wise; he just knew it was a compelling story and he wanted to make it. Sapphire said no early and often, because she understood her story deserved to be told in exactly the right way or it wouldn’t be told on the big screen at all. Period. Eventually, she allowed Lee Daniels, who did Monster’s Ball, to make the film.

When I read Sapphire’s story, I was really moved. If an NYU filmmaker approached me about making DONUT DAYS into a movie, would I say no? Or would I be so! excited! that someone actually wanted to make my little book into a film that I’d say yes before thinking it through? Would I have the guts to say no numerous times?

Of course, DONUT DAYS is a much, much different book than PUSH so I can’t exactly compare apples to apples here. But still. I am hugely impressed with Sapphire’s commitment to her story. If the opportunity ever presents itself to bring DONUT DAYS to the big screen, I hope I have the same respect and fierce loyalty to the story that she did.

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: This clip reminds us all that David Hasselhoff almost solely ended communism and brought down the Berlin Wall. Watch for the firework circa 3:20.

Sarah Quigley and I were in our alumni magazine, the Carleton College Voice! Granted, it wasn’t the feature we were hoping for, but we were in it. In the back. Next to academic publications. But still. Lookey!

In 2004, I went on a tornado chase with Storm Chasing Adventure Tours. Whilst waiting for one of the many storms we tracked to produce something worth filming, chasing, or running from, we stopped at a tres chic truck stop and there we encountered what we all know now as the DOW (Doppler on Wheels) and TIV (Tornado Intercept Vehicle).

But back then? Well, see for yourself.

So, the TIV was called something having to do with a woman’s vajayjay and a cleaning implement. Bush + rag = still breaking down all the time. Dude, look at Sean Casey crawling out from underneath the thing just like when the axle broke during season 2 of Stormchasers. Oh, and pretty much every other episode from every other season.

And look at Scout (it’s on the left, sorry these photos aren’t the best). It’s not even called Scout, though. It’s called ROTATE. I bet that’s an acronym for something (Risk Of Transmission Atrophy Totally Ever-present?) but I’m glad they changed it to Scout for the show. Also I loved the Scout drivers in season 2. And they just came back on the most recent season 3 episode. Except the Scout? Is now a fancy yellow jeep. Oh, and Joel is with them, but that’s a whole different blog post.

It’s sad to me that the TIV and DOW are totally fighting (Jonas Josh Wurman went and got hisself some corporate sponsors) and that they’re not chasing together anymore. Because look at how close they were in 2004. Side by side, bosom buddies. Buffy and Hildegard.

Can’t we all just get along?  Well, okay, first thing’s first. Can’t we all just work properly?

Really, though. We’re glad you changed the name of your tornado tank, Sean. Because Bushrag (okay, really? Bushrag? I’m just saying) just doesn’t work for the TIV. For you, maybe. But not for the TIV.

Oops, excuse me, there’s a red shoe going by. I think I want to watch watch it glide past and admire the stormchasers inside of it. Buh-bye now.

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: Thanks to Evan for sending this one along showing a guy ingeniously figuring out how to open a bottle of wine without a corkscrew.

I was thinking recently about what songs I’d include on a mix for DONUT DAYS. Back when I was a teenager, if you wanted to make a mix, you did it on a tape.  These days, thanks to songs being digital, I can put my mix right here on this page. So, here’s my shot at a DONUT DAYS mix. Enjoy!

1.) When You Were Young by the Killers

This would be like the theme song to the whole book. I love the lyrics — and they even made it to the front of the book where I quoted my favorite line: “He doesn’t look a thing like Jesus, but he talks like a gentleman.” (Also, this is my fave song to play on Guitar Hero.)

2.) We Used to be Friends by the Dandy Warhols

Okay, I know I’m cheating a little here because Veronica Mars used this song, but it’s so freaking awesome. It really communicates the way DONUT DAYS’ main character, Emma, is in a total fight with her two best friends and how it feels like they might never figure things out.

3.) Cannonball by the Breeders

Emotionally, think the tone of this song totally captures the angst Emma feels about being an outsider and like she doesn’t fit in anywhere.

4.) Can’t Believe a Single Word by VHS or Beta

Since a big part of the book is structured around people figuring out what they believe (and realizing that not everyone who is supposed to tell the truth actually does), I thought this song was completely fitting. Also, this song rules. Hard.

5.) Danger! High Voltage by the Electric Six

Jake, the hottie in the book, and Emma have some major fireworks going off between them. This song makes that abundantly clear.

6.) What a Fool Believes by Self

An awesome cover of the Doobie Brothers’ classic that’s my nod to Bear and the Angelfire Witnesses. At first glance, this group doesn’t look like much, but they wind up changing Emma’s life in profound ways.

7.) Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash

A shout-out to the time Emma spends in jail.

8.) Neon Bible by Arcade Fire

A song that looks at what happens when faith becomes a commodity to profit from, another major theme in DONUT DAYS.

9.) I Will Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie

The title of the song is like the essence of faith. And the song completes the idea that you stick by people because you love them, because they’re family and friends, no matter what.

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: For those of us sick to death of Twilight, the Harvard Lampoon has given us Nightlight, an awesome parody. I’m not sure it can match Secrets of the Sparkle (what can?), but I’m willing to give it a try.

This month is National Novel Writing Month (affectionately known as NaNoWriMo) and somehow I neglected to realize this at the beginning of November.

Every year, NaNoWriMo inspires writers to pen a 175-word novel (50,000 words) by November 30. And I’m kicking myself that I wasn’t on top of things enough to participate.

See, I’m the kind of writer who sits down at the computer in fits and starts. Some writers write every day. Me, not so much. I’ll go weeks without penning anything, then I’ll write for days on end. Then stop. It works to a degree, but an event like NaNoWriMo encourages day-to-day consistency. It’s something a person like me can really benefit from.

I’m definitely going to do it next year. And for all you writers out there who want to write a novel but are afraid to start, here’s a little encouragement straight from the NaNoWriMo website: By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

I think that sounds flat-out awesome. Who’s with me next year??

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: Biggest. Cupcake. Ever. Dude, where is the donut version of this?

So, you know that game where you take your favorite pet’s name plus the street you grew up on and combine them to make your stripper name? (My name: Kitty Woodcrest.) Well, there’s a new version of that name … for donuts!

The awesome Carly over at To Write and Publish has posted an interview of yours truly and at the end, you can win a copy of DONUT DAYS just by making your name a little more … donuty. You can also do your street name or pet’s name if you don’t want to alter your name.

Examples: Crullara Zielin (that’s a play on “cruller” in case it was too obtuse); Johnny Deep-fried Depp; Kristen Kreme Stewart … on and on. For some inspiration, check out Krispy Kreme’s menu online. So! Many! Donuts!

Have fun, and let me know what your donut name is too!