Lara Zielin

[This post includes a rad video. I just wanted to let you know that up front.]

There was a time in my life when I liked to think of myself as a storm chaser.

Because, see, I’d been on a tornado tour in tornado alley — which is a lot like whale watching, only instead of paying a guide to get you close to marine mammals, you pay a guide to get you close to dangerous storms — so OF COURSE I knew what I was doing.

When I was driving near Saginaw, Michigan, a few years ago, I got the perfect opportunity to chase. Like in Twister the movie! When they’re all in their cars, jouncing over back roads to get near a storm! I was on the trail of a huge system that was definitely going to produce. (<– See that? I even knew the lingo.)

I was getting really close to a dark, churning sky.

It was so exciting!

The wind was picking up. The temperature dropped. The whole sky took on that eeire green/black vibe.

And then the sirens started to go off. And I realized I was pretty much in the middle of the space a tornado was likely to touch down. And I thought to myself, “This is real.”

And, okay, maybe I thought about some swear words too. Probably I even said those swear words.

Because this wasn’t Twister, this wasn’t a tour with a guide who held a Ph.D. and a sophisticated Doppler. This was me being the biggest dumbass ever, and I had to get out of there.

Except that’s when the wind hit.

And the hail.

Did I mention I was in a new car?

It was getting bad. Oh, and the sirens were STILL going off.

I managed to get back on the highway, but cars were slowing down and pulling off left and right. The hail was REALLY bad. And people knew the twister was right behind us. So many of them were covering their heads against the worst of the hail assaults and heading for the ditches alongside the highway.

Oh, but not me. I floored that brand new car and booked out of there as quickly as I could. I thought, “I can’t chase a storm, but by god I can outrun it.” And I did. Best decision of the day, right there.

It was scary, real stuff. And I still feel my face burn every time I think about it. Because for crying out loud, what was I thinking? Chasing storms like this is about the stupidest thing an untrained weather enthusiast can do.

But it wasn’t a total loss. My good friend Rhonda Helms (Stapleton) thought my into-the-storm story was so funny, she made up a song about it. It’s called “Lara Zielin, Intrepid Girl Reporter.” And I made a video to go with the song. So at least we got that out of the whole debacle.

Stay in school, kids. And don’t chase twisters.

We have a winner from the recent STRUCK contest! Congratulations, Gina!

For those of you who didn’t win, don’t despair: The lovely Story Siren is doing a giveaway over on her site. She is awesome, and you can totally go there to win.

Thanks to everyone who entered! And happy reading, Gina!

Author Rhonda Stapleton and I share a brain. We usually think of things at the same time, our iTunes libraries are scarily similar, and we often finish each other’s sentences. But we always finish each other’s novels, because Rhonda is a young adult author too! Her recent book Struck is a bind-up of her three novels: Stupid Cupid, Flirting with Disaster, and Pucker Up.

I’ve asked Rhonda some questions about her new book random stuff that makes me giggle, and if you leave a comment below or Tweet about it (either use my handle, @larazielin or the hashtag #StruckYA) you’ll be entered to win a COPY OF THIS AMAZING BOOK! See, I’m so excited I’m yelling. Especially because Struck isn’t technically out until December 6, so we’re getting it super early! But enough about me. Let’s talk about Rhonda!!

Q: Target is incredible. You can get toilet paper and cute hoodies. Not to mention candles that smell like angels. What do you think life would be like without Target?

Q: Amazeballs is an awesome word. You use lots of superfab words like this. Can you give us one or

Enter to win this three-in-one bindup of Rhonda's novels by commenting below!

two more and explain what it means? (ex: You got Supertramped!)

A: I have a…problem with blending words — and by problem, I mean uncontrollable addiction. Two of my favs: “cramazing” is crazy amazing, and “Chadillac” is my husband Chad’s Cadillac. When I find new word blends, I stick to them like white on…uh, white people, I guess. And the Supertramped thing…what a long and beautiful story. I’ll try to sum up. Do you know the whole “Rickroll” thing, where someone sends you a link, faking like it’s something important or funny, but it turns out to be that Rick Astley video? Well, Chad and I started Supertramping each other. It became an epic war to see who could get the song “Breakfast in America” stuck in the other person’s head by whatever means necessary. One time, Chad changed his ringtone, put his cell in the kitchen while I was washing dishes, then used the home phone to call his cell. My ultimate revenge: I put a dedication to him in STRUCK with the song’s title name in it, telling him he just got Supertramped. mwahahahaaaa

A: I want to get everything out there. lol. Here are some random facts about me: I hate blue food. I have arguments with people in my head. I don’t get basketball at all. My dogs are named Daisy and Duke, in honor of how I would play Dukes of Hazzard with my friends when I was a kid (yeah, I was a dork). My sister and I are on crack. Uh, there ya go.

The day that Aggie Winchester launched, I received a cake from Rob. This rules because a.) it’s cake and b.) my husband is the kind of guy who will buy me cake. For those of you who don’t believe that this actually happened, I present Exhibit A:

As you can see from the way my arms are straining in this picture, the cake was HUGE. Possibly too big for two people, one might think. Is this a good thing? In fancypants literary terms, we call these hints that all this cake may not be a good thing foreshadowing. In non-fancypants literary terms, it’s called buying waaaay too much delicious cake but then having Rob go all Goodfellas on the thing.

Because, let me just be clear, within hours of cake arriving, Rob had formed a special relationship with it. Rob and cake were tied together by a beautiful, frosting-covered string that only they could see.

Not that Rob didn’t share his beloved cake. During the Girls Taking Over the World tour, Rhonda, Christine, and Saundra all had cake. I don’t have a picture of it, so I will reenact the events here.

Soon, Rob started to change. His skin retained a greasy, pale look that Rhonda dubbed the “buttercream sweats.” All he could talk about was the cake. All he could think about was the cake.

Our friend Erica came over. She had a piece. That was the last time any of us remember it being shared.

We talked about taking the rest into work to distribute among colleagues, but in the end there was always an excuse: it’s sort of old now, we don’t want to bring in dried-out cake; there’s hardly that much left anyway, why bother?

And then, sometimes, there was just the look. Like, this Wuthering Heights kind of moment where Rob is Heathcliff and cake is Catherine and why, why can’t they just be together forever?

But in the end, cake did leave us. Rob announced, as we were getting ready to watch HGTV’s Design Star, that cake had passed into the gray havens and would remain there forevermore.

It was gone. I didn’t get to say goodbye. But then again, I didn’t have the relationship with it that Rob did. While it lasted, it was a beautiful thing.

Cake is dead. Long live cake.

Cake: August 4, 2011 – August 12, 2011

In most circles I’m known for my beauty and brilliance, as well as my modesty.*

(*O_o)

Which is why it’s so hard for me to talk about what a smashing, amazing success the [first leg of the] Girls Taking Over the World book tour was!*

(*Coughs*)

But nevertheless, I’ll take a stab at it here.

HOLY WAH, IT WAS SOoooOoo AWESOME!

The first stop of the tour was Nicola’s Books in Ann Arbor. Look, they even had a display set up for us! Featuring all our books!

We did a quick talk about why it’s important to have strong female voices in teen books. Here we are trying to sound smart, which is hard when Rhonda Stapleton keeps snorting, which makes the rest of us snort.

From left to right are Christine Johnson, Rhonda Stapleton, Saundra Mitchell, me, and Aimee Carter

But you know what my favorite part was? YOU! All of you who came and packed the house!

Look at how many of you were there!!!

And some of you even wanted us to sign your books!

Dude, we had the BEST. TIME. EVER.

Thanks to everyone who turned out to support girls and books and reading and GTOTW and Aggie and shoes and cheese and … wait, now I’m just listing things I love.

Anyway. Aggie’s debut and the first leg of the tour were uh-maze-ing. Because you all made it that way.

*blows you kisses*

Thank you.

Really really.

Do you ever wonder what writers talk about when they talk to each other? Do you ever think, “I wish I could just pick that author’s brain for a little bit?”

Enter Ink Stains, a new ebook that features interviews with nine authors with more than 25 published books between them. These honest accounts feature authors overcoming self doubt, waging war against writer’s block, coming to terms with the editing process, and learning to trust their literary instincts. Their raw authenticity will inspire and encourage other writers. If they can do it, so can you.

I compiled and edited these wonderful interviews. You can click here to buy from Amazon (Kindle), or here from B&N (Nook). I hope these literary insights will help your writing leave its ink stain!

I am delighted and super honored to be part of a group of young adult authors who are taking a girl empowerment message on the road this summer with the GIRLS TAKING OVER THE WORLD book tour! It’s me, Rhonda Stapleton, Christine Johnson and Saundra Mitchell (along with some amazing special-guest authors!) and we’ll all will be visiting booksellers and libraries in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky starting in August, to highlight their girl-centric novels, and to talk to young women about celebrating their strength and making their own choices.

If you’re looking to get your copy of The Implosion of Aggie Winchester signed, or hear about why young-adult novels matter and are great for girls to read, check out our tour dates listed below. You can also find out more information about the tour by clicking here.

We’d love to see you while we’re on the road! Goooo books!

TOUR DATES/LOCATIONS:

Reading, Q&A, Signing
Friday, August 5, 2011
7:00-9:00PM
Nicola’s Books
Special Guest: Aimée Carter
Westgate Shopping Center
2513 Jackson Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48103

Booktalk & Signing
Saturday, August 6, 2011
6:00pm – 8:00pm
Summer’s Stories
131 S Main
Kendallville, IN 46755

Booktalk & Signing
Sunday, August 7, 2011
2:00pm – 4:00pm
Special Guest: Aimée Carter
Barnes & Noble Livonia
17111 Haggerty Rd.
Northville, MI 48167

Meet, Greet & Sign
Thursday, August 25th, 2011
5:00-7:00PM
Mudsock Books
11850 Allisonville Rd
Fishers, IN 46038

Book Talk, Q&A & Signing
Friday, August 26th, 2011
7:00-9:00PM
Special Guest: Julie Kagawa
Campbell County Public Library
Carrico/Ft. Thomas Branch
1000 Highland Ave.
Fort Thomas, KY 41075
(Sponsored by Blue Marble)

Booktalk & Signing
Saturday, August 27th, 2011
4:00-6:00PM
Special Guest: Sara Bennett Wealer
blue manatee
3054 Madison Road
Cincinnati, Ohio 45209