Lara Zielin

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: I suppose I was the only one until recently who hadn’t seen the crazy viral double rainbow vid, but have you see the double rainbow remix? I have. Thanks to Lauren!

I love Goodreads. Every time I read a book, I’m excited to list it on my shelf and see what other people are saying about it. And, yeah, it’s true — I like to see what people are saying about DONUT DAYS too.

For a while there, I was starring and reviewing everything I’d read. And then I started to think about my reviews not as a reader, but as a writer. If I were the author of said book and I read my review, how would I feel? If I were the author of said book and I saw it had been given three stars out of five, what would I think? (And let me tell you, when I see three-star reviews of DONUT DAYS, my heart does sink a little. I know it’s not supposed to. Thick skin and all that. But it does. Because I want so much for everyone to love it.)

Anyway. As a writer, I really can’t be a reviewer. The biggest factor in this is because I now understand that even the worst of books still represent loads of hard work by the author. And if it was in their heart to get it that far, to a place where I actually held it in my hands, I can’t front on that. I can throw Twilight across the room, but I can’t diss Meyer for putting words to what was in her imagination. (Or what was in her bedroom, watching her sleep. *shudders*)

Also, the writing community is small. About the time I go around saying I couldn’t stand a certain book, I’m going to  meet that writer at a conference and have to shake their hand and want the floor to open up and swallow me whole.

So, these days I mark the book as read, and I leave it at that. I do sort of miss putting my opinion out there, but as a published author, my job duties have changed. It’s no longer my role to critique as a reader and say what’s good. It’s now my responsibility to champion books and authors writ large — because as a whole they’re awesome — and cheerlead everything on the shelves.

It’s not too late to pick up books by all the fab authors who were in Chicago this weekend for the Debs Holidaze Tour! Here are some pics of the fun we had in the Windy City, and a list of all the books by the women I was honored to be with on Saturday:

Cynthea Liu, PARIS PAN TAKES THE DARE and THE GREAT CALL OF CHINA

Saundra Mitchell, SHADOWED SUMMER

Aprilynne Pike, WINGS

Kristina Springer, THE ESPRESSOLOGIST

Darcy Vance and Charity Tahmaseb, THE GEEK GIRLS GUIDE TO CHEERLEADING

Look! All our covers!

Here we are at Borders in Bolingbrook.

Thanks, Borders, for carrying my book! For five seconds.

Here we are signing our books. Aren’t we all so adorable?

Our next stop was the Book Cellar.

Kristina and I are enamored of signing!

Y’all I am so humidified excited! For so many reasons!

I’m thrilled to announce that blog commenter Jill just won a free copy of DONUT DAYS, and I’m especially elated because I loved her comment! When asked which food holiday she would invent, she gave not one but two. One for peanut butter, and one for Tootise Rolls. Now that is a girl after my own heart, let me tell you.

The other thing I learned? Jill has an awesome website and you should go see it! It has owls! And books! Again, two of my favorite things.

Jill and I can’t be BFFs because Lauren Myracle and I already are, but I hope she will consider inviting me to her next sleepover. I know she’s on my VIP list.

Congratulations, Jill!!!

The DONUT DAYS release party on Thursday at Nicola’s Books in Ann Arbor, Michigan, was nothing short of smashing! It ruled so hard. So many people turned out to buy books and offer support, and Nicola’s even ran out of copies to sell! I was, and still am, floored by the outpouring of love and encouragement from friends and family.

For those of you who want to see photos from the event, I have a bunch! Here they are, and all photo credits go to the awesome Evan Hansen.

This is back when they still had books to sell. So many books!

Here is a smattering of all the people in attendance. They eventually ran out of chairs so some folks did have to stand. Sorry about that, all y’all!

So, Nicola sat me in this big leather chair and I did my presentation from there. Which was different. But totally okay. I talked about the process of getting published and how, as a writer, I found my voice for DONUT DAYS.

Then the signing started and the line was long. But everyone was really, really cool about it, and they stuck around and waited patiently. Thanks, awesome peeps!

As they say in Dirty Dancing, I had the time of my life. And nobody puts baby in a corner. But mostly I had the time of my life.

I signed and signed … and then afterwards we went to Zingerman’s Road House to celebrate with cocktails and food.

Thank you again to everyone who showed up and made it so fun and memorable. What a night! Let’s do it again tomorrow! Hee hee.

xoxo

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: The self-ascribed most powerful donut-finding blog ever. I heart this blog bad.

So, guess who else will be stopping by my blog as part of the “six authors for six weeks” contest? Here’s a hint: her name starts with Melissa and ends with Schorr. That’s right, one of my fave authors evah, who penned the awesome book GOY CRAZY, will be part of the blog spotlight! Yay!

And if that wasn’t enough, we’ll be rounding the whole thing out with the amazing Sarah Quigley, author of TMI. She and I share some crazy coincidences that tie our books — and lives — together inextricably.

So when is the next post, you ask? This Thursday, peeps. Only two days away! Stay tuned for more prizes and fabulous contributions by great authors!

Anyone want awesome FREE art for their house or apartment? Then participate in artist John Tebeau’s new contest. Tell him why you love a particular musician or song and if you win, he’ll paint your fave musician for you — for free! His work rules (see left) and so does this fun little challenge.

STATUS: Sore.

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: Here’s a link Drew sent showing Bill O’Reilly flipping out over a teleprompter glitch. It’s a gorgeous meltdown that someone later set to music in a separate video.  

On Sunday, I ran the Dexter-Ann Arbor half marathon — all 13.1 miles of it. I ran it with my friend DeDe, and I can safely say that if it wasn’t for her, I never would have made it to the starting line. Or the finish line, for that matter. I am in green below on the top, crossing the finish line; DeDe is in yellow on the bottom.

Next year, we are going to copy the cover of Meg Cabot’s fabulous novel, Size 12 is Not Fat, and put it on our running shirts. I think lots of people believe you need to have a svelte runners’ physique to attempt more than 2 miles, but that’s not the case at all. On a sort-of-related note, I watched America’s Next Top Model last night (yes, I love the show, I admit it) and a “juicy” size 10 won, and everyone kept saying how voluptuous she was. Um, okay. I guess it just goes to show how completely relative weight is, no matter what a person does. You don’t have to be size 4 to run a marathon, and DeDe and I are living (and hobbling, at least for today) proof.

Speaking of eating, here I debate whether or not to chow on my medal, or on my water bottle. If I look tired, it’s because I am. Plus my legs hurt quite a bit at the time of the photo.

STATUS: As Rob’s niece Lily would say, “becited.”

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: A hipper-than-me co-worker didn’t watch the Grammy’s either, but he still sent me this link. Something about Daft Punk and Kanye’s glasses being way cool. Crazy kid.

Today’s blog is an open letter to Ellen DeGeneres, who we hope picks us to win her Highway to Ellen road trip. After viewing the compelling evidence below, I don’t see how she wouldn’t be able to [hand in air, waving frantically] pick us! pick us!

Dear Ellen,

My name is Lara Zielin. You may know me from such books as Help! I’ve Been Captured, a mystery novella I penned in second grade, and my role as “girl in pink sweatshirt for one second on-screen” in the movie How Clarence Became Truly Normal. I am so excited to write to you today because I know that Elena, Sarah, Shyeilla and I will be fabulous road trippers if you put us on your show for the Highway to Ellen contest. You may ask, how can this writer/actor/woman know such a thing? Ellen, if you were the judge in Road Trip Court, then you would have to pronounce all of us guilty of prior road trips, and sentence us to life … behind Mars!

Elena and Sarah crash-landed in Roswell on our last road trip — the one we took in 1998 during our senior year of college. We took our time going from Minnesota to Tucson and back, making a stop at the Alien Capital of the World. If you’ve never eaten a green sucker in the shape of an alien head, let me tell you, it’s out of this world! Bah ha.

Sometime during our road trip, we drove out to the middle of nowhere and stood in four states at once. There is a Simpson‘s where Homer does the exact same thing, over and over again, never tiring of it. Call us simpletons, but it took us a long time to get over the raging excitement of being in four places at the same time.

I’m in New Mexico! No wait, Arizona! Catch me in Utah if you can!

We are responsible road trippers who never ever would pick up a hitch-hiker. Not even Brad Pitt in Thelma and Louise — or whatever the 2008 version of that would be. Maybe, um, McDreamy thumbing it just outside of Seattle. But no, not even a cute doctor needing a ride at the boundary of a safe and hip city could entice us to stop. No siree. We would, however, brake for some friends from the Stone Age.

And while we’re sooper excited about the prospect of driving a GM cross-country, I’m not sure anyone should underestimate the fun of powering a wooden vehicle … with their feet.

But maybe the best part of the road trip was all the thought we were able to put into our future careers. After all, as college seniors, we would be facing the trials of the real world in mere months, and we needed to have a plan.

On the left, Sarah is clearly considering a career in Russian studies. That’s vodka in her purse. In the middle, Shyeilla is ready for a pair of scissors and some gold platform shoes to Beyonce herself into a career. And Elena — well, clearly she is getting in touch with her Latina roots, thinking about opening a restaurant serving heaping spoonfuls of chili con crack-up.

Then again, none of us are afraid of crossing boundaries into careers traditionally dominated by men.

Though, to be fair, no one lights our fire like you, Ellen.

We might not have stopped at the most traditional outposts on our road trip, but every place we went we had fun, and we appreciated everything that was right in front of us — big or small, mainstream or quirky, silly or serious. For many years of my life, I looked back on that road trip and thought about how those days were the happiest and freest I’d ever felt. It would be such a blessing to be able to do it again, ten years later, as our 10th college reunion appears right around the corner. But not matter what, Ellen, we love you and your show and the great things you do for the world. And what a world it is!

STATUS: So! Excited!

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: “Highway to Ellen” because that’s totally going to be US!

Okay, deep breath. Y’all ready for this? My college roomate Elena loves Ellen DeGeneres. Actually, love isn’t the right word for the depth and height of emotion she feels for Ellen. So when Ellen started up a road trip contest, Elena had to enter. And the peeps she decided to take along on the road trip were those of us who road-tripped with her during an epic adventure to Tucson and back (with lots of stops in between) during spring break in college. Within minutes of submitting the application, THE ELLEN SHOW CALLED ELENA. I’m not even making this up. They asked her lots of questions and seemed to be feeling her out as a contestant — but omg, they called! We all have a really great feeling about this. How awesome would a road trip to the Ellen show be? I can hardly stand to think about it, I’m so excited! Woo hoo!

STATUS: Ghost Hunted. The season premiere was last night and it ruled. I especially like the newbie they’re training. Who knew you can’t wear perfume to a ghost hunt? Not me.

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: The genius of www.tootandtinkle.com. I typed out the URL so you could see it. So, Toot? He’s a TRAIN. That looks suspiciously like … not a train. And Tinkle’s a fairy, so your kid is SURE to think that flying things who come for his/her teeth also come for his/her urine.

Katie got the pics back from her wedding and it turns out, we really were the rowdy table. We sort of bet this guy sitting next to me that he couldn’t eat a whole cupcake in one bite. That’s Rob, shoving the fist-full of dollars in the poor guy’s face. And yes, that’s me, hooting my encouragement. Katie’s wedding really was classy. Except for us.

In other exciting news, the edits came! Yay! They’re awesome. And awesomely challenging, but in a really good way. I need to process them a bit more and digest everything that Stacey wants me to do, but I’m totally impressed by her editing prowess. The book is going to be SO much better as a result!