~~~Lara Zielin~~~

I am very fortunate to share a home and a heart and a life with one of the most creative forces on the planet: my hubby, Rob [cue *awwwww* sound].

He has a new film, Starlight & Superfish, which is on submission to a number of film festivals as we speak. (Exciting, right?). There is also a way cute, fun short music number they created to help promote the film. It’s funny! It’s quick! It’s awesome!

AND IF YOU WATCH IT, YOU CAN WIN A FREE, SIGNED COPY OF DONUT DAYS OR A $10 DUNKIN’ DONUTS GIFT CARD ZOMG I’M NOT EVEN KIDDING RIGHT NOW!!1!

I will be giving away one book and one gift card just for watching the video. You know you want them.

So here’s how you get them.

1.) Watch the video (embedded below for your convenience!).

2.) Leave a comment on this page so I know you watched it, and please tell me how many views the video had when you watched it.

3.)  Please also leave a comment on the YouTube site if you feel like it, and/or become a fan of Starlight & Superfish on Facebook.

That’s it! Three easy steps to fabulous prizes. The contest will be open through midnight on December 19th, winner announced on the 20th.

Happy video watching, and good luck!!

STATUS: Itching to do some gardening, which is hilarious because I have nothing like a green thumb. What’s the opposite of green? Brown? I have a brown thumb, then. It must be spring fever that’s making me want to plant, plant, plant the night away.

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND:Miley Cyrus, who you may or may not know as Hannah Montana, is writing a book. It’s a memoir, and she got seven figures in the deal. Um, she’s like fourteen. How can you write a memoir at fourteen? And how can it be worth seven figures? I guess the lesson here, kids, is that if Disney is in your back pocket, you can do just about anything.

A couple days ago, Rob showed me swaptree.com, and I think every writer in the world should know about it. Why? Because every writer in the world should also be a reader, and this is the place where you can swap out your old books for new ones. That is, if you’re like me and your pocketbook was taking a hit every time you went to Borders to buy the latest Sarah Dessen book or similar tome.

The deal is that you put your books — or movies or music — on the site, and then it tells you what you can get for it. For example, I traded Sarah Dessen’s novel JUST LISTEN for a cute, fun read called SLOPPY FIRSTS. Since I’m a newbie, I can only execute a couple trades at a time, so I can’t swap my entire bookshelf, which is what I would do right this second if I could.

Overall, I’m thrilled to be consuming less and trading books with other readers. Don’t be afraid to sign up and get swappin!

STATUS: Over the moon about my new website. I’m Internecstatic.

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND:
An homage to all the fact-checkers out there. And Bill Murray. And maybe warm milk, too.

Last weekend, a discussion ensued about what to be for this year’s Halloween party. I am usually terrible at picking out Halloween costumes. In the new “about me” section, I talk briefly about the year I went as Harriet Miers. You see? I’m terrible at this. A creative friend suggested Dorothy, or perhaps Glenda the Good Witch — but having delved into 100 pages of WICKED, I just don’t think I can do that. Maybe I’ll go as a YA writer with a new website. At least the costume would be cheap.

STATUS: Crunk. Okay, not really, but I had a friend describe crunk to me today as “a great hip-hop term,” which made me laugh out loud because: a.) thanks for explaining a term that’s so four years ago b.) if you’re going to modify crunk, why use “great” instead of, say, “fly”? and c.) why do white boys from the suburban midwest think they’re uber qualified to go there?

So, it’s all about the links today, people. And while I had contemplated the merits of posting a link to Beyonce’s boobie-oops, I figured maybe not. Here, instead, are other links that make me … not crunk.

How do you spell awkward? Try C-N-N.

There’s a pimp cup out there with my name on it. I’m not even kidding. Check out the rest of the site, too.

Who knew Finnish TV was so flipping awesome? Not me. Until now.

And, yeah, I’m sorry for this guy — but at the same time I’m not. Becuase what he did? It’s straight out of a Simpson’s episode.

STATUS: Bargain-basemented. I’m tired of making deals. Can I come up the stairs now? Please?

Until this past weekend, Rob and I had been paying $200/month for a climate-controlled storage unit so we could hold on to all the crap that didn’t fit in our little bungalow by the lake. And by little I mean 900-square-feet. But we have a pontoon floating just beyond our backyard so don’t knock it until you try it.

Anyway, we recently decided that: a.) $200/month was waaaay too much to pay for anything we weren’t using regularly and enjoying; b.) we’re Americans, and Americans need less stuff in general; and c.) we could use some cashola to pay for Rob’s new computer, which he had to buy because his old one went on the fritz.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that after emptying out the storage unit and selling off a bunch of crap, I feel totally cleansed and my creativity level is reaaaaallly high. I thought of like three new ideas to incorporate into my book, and I just feel – lighter or something.

Maybe it’s also the fact that I GOT THE FIRST CHECK FOR MY BOOK!! Woo hoo! I’m completely elated. But I don’t think it’s just the money that’s making me giddy with creativity. I think it’s the fact that I was letting things control my money (i.e. letting things suck $200 from my checkbook every month) and now I have control over my things. Which means I have more control over my life. Which means I have more brain space to devote to writing.

So, how about you? Is there any clutter you can purge from your life? You know what they say: You can’t take it with you. Not even that bust of Michael Jackson that doubles as a bank. A slit in the back of his head and a plug at the bottom – just like in real life.

STATUS: Nalgenvious. You know those nalgene bottles you get so you don’t create more waste for the planet by throwing away lots of plastic water bottles? Well, mine is green and pink (from Starbucks) and I envy it today. It looks way more sparkly and cute than I feel.

When Ellen was here this past weekend (Ann Arbor was a stop on her book tour–yay!), our friend Todd came over to record her reading some pages from KEEPING THE HOUSE. He runs a website, Killer Fiction, where he puts up podcasts of authors reading their works. It’s a fab idea to be sure. I can’t read DONUT DAYS on the site until the edits are in and it’s about to come out, but if there are authors out there who can and want to read their stuff on Todd’s site, you should visit killerfiction.com and then email him.

STATUS: My cat’s breath smells like cat food. I got a link this morning from Colleen where you can Simpsonize yourself, and I totally had to try it out. Unfortunately, it had some issues with the photos I submitted, so I’m posting Colleen’s Simpsonized photo instead of mine. It really does look uncannily like her. If she was yellow and a cartoon, that is. Also, in honor of Homer and the gang (not to mention the new movie, which I haven’t seen yet but will soon), I’ve changed the links under “Something Shiny” to all things Simpsons (or at least things they’d approve of). I feel this is especially relevant since Homer loves donuts and I’ve got a book coming out with a title he’d totally dig.In the meantime, Rob and I are in the throes of figuring out how to make my author website rival YouTube. Well, not really, but we do want it to be cool. He pointed out the Calamity Physics site, which is kick-ass but is really more about the book (and filling in All the Things You May Have Missed) versus a true author site where you learn about the author and all their books, not just one book in detail. I like the Catherine Gilbert Murdock site, but she looks kinda … severe or something. I probably shouldn’t say that because I want her to blurb my book at some point. So, um, picture her site with way more laughs, and that’s pretty much how I want larawrites.com to be.

As soon as it’s up, I’ll of course link to this blog.

If anyone has good author websites to use for benchmarking, pass ‘em along!

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