On a much lighter note, I found this old interview on my desktop that I don’t think was ever used so I’m posting it here. Hanna from my first book is being interviewed by Death. I have no idea why–like I said, I did this a long time ago.

Give me a one-line description of your book. The hook, if you will. What’s the “Hey, cool!” about the book?

I run away to strange town called Portero that’s full of monsters and doors to other worlds, and I have to use my wit, charm, and good looks in order to survive. It’s easy for me—I come from a long line of almost diabolically fascinating women.

What’s the worst thing about your situation in the book? (Please describe the situation. In great detail.)

The worst thing for me is that my family situation isn’t the best. Poppa died and left me with his bitch sister who hates me…which is partially my fault, I’ll admit it, since I smacked her upside the head with a rolling pin. But I only did that as a last resort! Normally, I’m very levelheaded. Which is why I ran away from home. To live with my mother. Who I’d never met. And who also wants nothing to do with me. But I’m sure I can talk Momma into letting me stay with her. I’m almost certain I won’t have to use a rolling pin on her or anything crazy like that.

What’s the best thing about your situation? (Again, details.)

 I finally get to spend time with Momma. And I get to meet lots of interesting people. And by interesting, I mean weird. Turns out Portero is full of weirdos. They hate outsiders and only wear black because their town is full of monsters and people die all the time so basically they’re always in mourning. I kind of like that. Not that people die all the time, but that there are monsters here. People are so busy trying to, you know, not die, that they don’t even care that I’m manic-depressive.

If you could be anyone, who would it be? (Fictional character or real person.) Why?

I wouldn’t be anyone but who I am. Other people are so cowardly, afraid to go after what they really want, constantly weighing the pros and cons, and worried about “consequences”. I never worry about anything. I just do whatever I want to do, whenever and however I want to do it. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

What’s your standard outfit? What wouldn’t you be caught (ha ha) dead in?

I wear purple dresses, mostly. Sometimes I’ll wear a skirt if I’m feeling daring, but no matter what I wear, it has to be some shade of purple. Purple was Poppa’s favorite color, and it just seems disrespectful to wear any other colors. I’d never wear blue jeans. They’re so constricting. My girlie area prefers to be free and unobstructed.

What are you most afraid of? Why? How do you move past that fear?

I’m afraid of being alone. When I get really manic, I start to detach from reality. Having people around helps keep me connected to what’s real. It’s even better when the person loves me, because then I know I’m safe. I know I’ll be protected. To keep from being alone, I tend to latch onto people, whether they want me to or not. I know Momma would love to escape my clutches—she’s really afraid to get close to people—but I’m a hard girl to discourage.

What’s one thing about you that no one else knows? (You can trust us. Really.)

Back when I was in Dallas, I sat next to this guy on a bench at the park and we started talking about this and that. He was really funny and kinda cute, so I started making out with him. It wasn’t until I chipped my front tooth against his mouth that I realized he was a statue and not a real guy at all. Hallucinating can be a real pain sometimes.

In BLEEDING VIOLET, were there any parts of the story where you were like, Dia, what on earth are you making me do? Or were you and your Creator in sync the entire time?

Dia never tried to make me do anything. If anything, she tried to get me to stop doing stuff. She’s way more uptight than I am, that’s for sure.

If you had your way, what would you change about BLEEDING VIOLET?

I’d wear uglier clothes. I ruined so many cute dresses and lost so many pairs of shoes trying to battle the forces of evil, like, I can’t even describe it.

If you could make your Creator, Dia, do anything, what would it be?

I’d force her to write a sequel so that I can have even more time in the spotlight. But I think Dia’s still a bit traumatized from our first go-round. I tend to have that effect on people.

Tell me one thing in the real world that you wish you could change.

I wish the real world wasn’t so dull and…monsterless. I’m lucky I have a place like Portero to fit into. I think that in the real world, people would think that I was a monster, just because I’m so different. Probably no one would even want to be friends with me.

If BLEEDING VIOLET goes Hollywood, who should play you in the movie? What about Rosalee?

I think I should play myself. There really is no one else like me in the universe. There’s not even anyone who could pretend to be me; no one is that good of an actor. Momma would never agree to star in the movie—she hates everybody—but Thandie Newton or Sanaa Lathan or N’Bushe Wright might do a good job pretending to be as fascinating as she is. As for Wyatt…I think he’s like me—one-of-a-kind.

If there’s anything I haven’t asked that you really want to talk about, go for it!

Well, since we’re on the subject of Wyatt, I just want to say that our relationship isn’t as one-sided as he seems to think it is.  Sure, I may take advantage of his feelings for me, but I take advantage of everyone. So if you’re reading this Wyatt, please understand that I’m not singling you out—I’m an equal opportunity user. But just because I use you doesn’t mean that I don’t love you. Because I totally do.

If there’s one piece of advice you could give to your fans, what would it be?

If you want something, take it. Life’s too short to be sitting around empty-handed. Oh, and don’t let the monsters eat you.

Finally, who’s your favorite Horseman of the Apocalypse?

Death, of course.  And no, I’m not flattering you. You know that I’ve been wanting to meet you for a loooong time. I’m just fortunate that this meeting didn’t involve any blood or carnage—that’s very rare for me, you know? So. Want to come over to my house for lunch? I’ll make my famous blood pancakes!

Tags: Bleeding Violet
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Watch one of the awesomest writers in the world Josh Berk deliver a dramatic reading of the armoire scene from Bleeding Violet. It has everything, sound effects, a dog growling in the background for no reason, and Berk himself, of course, complete with corduroy jacket and (bubble) pipe. The voice he uses for the beautiful, seductive Rosalee is almost eerily perfect.

Enjoy!

Tags: Bleeding Violet, MasterBerk Theatre
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

I love playlists. I have playlists built around all kinds of crap: food, people’s names, nonsense lyrics, mean boys, robots, spooky sh*t (I blogged about this particular playlist here). I even have a playlist based solely on the Berkinator, which I like to call Berkin’ It Up.

And so of course I have playlists for my books. Here’s a sampling from the Bleeding Violet playlist.

Tags: Bleeding Violet, Music, playlist
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

According to the random thingy chooser, the winner is:

KELLY!

Congratulations; you have successfully cheered up my book. Email me your address, as you have 24 hours to claim your prize or it will go to a different book cheerer-upper.

For my personal favorite, I choose:

Aik!

It was pretty close between Aik and Jessica who introduced me to that fabulous weirdo anthem “All My Heroes Are Weirdos”, but I had to go with Aik. Based on her comment, she sounds like a really cool, confident, super-nerd. Love that! Super-nerdiness must be encouraged.

Honorable mentions:
Steve and Lacey for great quotes, although Ninefly’s was the best: “Creativity is a mental disorder“. Soooo getting that on a tee shirt someday.

sbklinda and Thuy for knowing how to twist logic until it screams, “Uncle!”

Yan for having the most educational comment.

Emilee and Kay whose posts always make me feel normal.

Statements I must comment on:
Mike Jung – name one thing badminton players ever did to contribute to society. Exactly.

Ari - I don’t think it would be boring if people walked around naked. It would be the opposite of boring.

And Susan, what can I say? I like the irony :p

Thanks for playing, y’all!

Tags: Bleeding Violet, giveaway
Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

Ka-Yam Chui from The Letter Garden drew a picture of Hanna and Rosalee for me. My very first fan art! Of course, I asked her to do it, but so what? I refused to be robbed of the joy of fan art. :p It’s always really interesting to see someone else’s idea of something that used to be solely in your own head. Love how she put Swan in the picture too. Thanks, Ka-Yam!!!!!!!

ETA: Ka-Yam reminded me about this one. This is the first picture of Hanna she sent me. Ha! So this one is really my first bit of fan art. Which I didn’t ask for, so see? It’s totally legitimate. xD

Tags: Bleeding Violet, fan art
Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

It’s official, folks. Bleeding Violet is finally out and about in the world–the REAL world, not just the world in my head. Talk about surreal.

Anyway, I thought I’d do something nice for my book today, you know, show her how very loved she is. (People keep saying she’s weird and dark and creepy, and I think it’s starting to give her a complex, poor thing.) So I’m going to do a Release Day Giveaway that’s open to everyone from everywhere. Yes, even Philadelphia (joke between me and my football archnemesis Josh Berk).

If you want to enter, all you have to do is leave one comment for my book explaining why being a weirdo isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I’ll pick a winner at random, using the random chooser thingy, but I’ll also pick a personal favorite. The winner gets a signed copy of Bleeding Violet and the personal favorite gets a BV bookmark and a Porterene key (you have to read the book if you don’t know what that is). This giveaway will end next Monday, and on the following Tuesday, I’ll announce the winners. 

So that’s it, and I really hope you guys can make my poor little book feel good about herself. Good luck!

Tags: Bleeding Violet, giveaway
Posted in Uncategorized | 50 Comments »

Okay, here it is folks. I crunched some numbers (well, the computer did) and the randomly chosen winner of the Bleeding Violet *Christmas Giveaway Extravaganza is:

Kay!

It’s almost 11 a.m. my time, so I will give you til 11 a.m. tomorrow to claim your prize or it will go to the next random person on the list.

As for the comments, I have to give a few special shoutouts:

Ari MissAttitude for the Edith Beale quote. Grey Gardens is one of the best documentaries EVER!

Emilee for being the most like the main character in the story. xD

Kay and Stacy W for their strange attempts to actually describe the color violet.

Yan for adding to my storehouse of useless but fascinating trivia.

and finally:

Kelly B and her awesome inability to keep a secret.

Be sure to check back again on my actual release date, January 5, for another BV giveaway. Thanks for playing!

Tags: Bleeding Violet, giveaway
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

* Or whatever holiday you celebrate–I don’t judge. ;p

I got two finished copies of Bleeding Violet today from my favorite editor Emilia, and I’m feeling this urge to share the love and/or holiday spirit.

Guess which one is mine? Ha! Here’s the cookie on the back:

(By cookie, I mean a teasy little excerpt, not an actual snack treat). And here’s the spine without the jacket:

I know this has crossed the line into dork city, but don’t judge me. I don’t judge you for not celebrating Christmas. :p

Anyway, about the Bleeding Violet *Christmas Giveaway Extravaganza, let’s just keep it simple, shall we? If you comment on this post (just once, please, for the sake of simplicity), consider yourself in it to win it. Don’t do anything stupid, though, like putting your address in the comments. I’ll use some random name thingy to choose a winner, so it’s only the winner’s address I’ll need, which I’ll get through email. And it has to be an interesting comment not something lame like, “I’ve commented”. All lame comments will be automatically disqualified. How do I know if my comment is lame, you ask? You don’t. I’m the sole judge of both “cool” and “lame”. That’s just the way the world works. Sorry. :p

What do you win, you ask? The prize is a signed copy of Bleeding Violet, plus some swaggish type stuff. I have a purple lock box with some stuff in it. Here’s a pic: 

What is that stuff, you ask? Some Lipsmackers (I’m a Lipsmacker junkie), purple mini-Sharpies, an iTunes card, a bottle of aubergine nail polish (aubergine is actually a lot darker than that polish is, but whatever), and a silver key. The key is a nod to Bleeding Violet; all the Porterenes carry little silver keys. There are also bookmarks, but not for BV (I might get some made, someday; I’m still relatively young enough to get around to that):

I’m sure none of these authorly folk mind me giving their bookmarks away. And if they do, tuffers (and no, that’s not a typo; it’s a nice way of saying tough sh*t).

So that’s it. If you win, you get all this stuff. I thought about doing the whole first, second, third place rigamarole, but screw that. In my world, it’s all or nuthin’.

The giveaway starts now and ends…I dunno…Christmas Eve. I’ll announce the winner the day after Christmas, and whoever wins will have 24 hours to claim the prize or I will send thugs to your house to thrash you. Hahaha, just kidding. The prize will just go to some other random person. Okay that’s all. Merry *Christmas!

Tags: Bleeding Violet, giveaway
Posted in Uncategorized | 46 Comments »

From STRANGE FRUIT:

“After we kill Franken,” said Kit as she and Fancy set the table, “I’m gone put his tongue in a jar too. Just like that old man’s. I’ll start a collection!”

“I hope you hid that thing real good,” Fancy hissed when Madda came back into the kitchen. “Last thing we need is Madda finding it.”

“She won’t.”

“And we are not gone kill Franken. How many times I gotta tell you?”

“You don’t even like Franken. All you do is complain about him. You can’t still be worried about the police.” Kit pinched Fancy’s cheek. “Not after what you did to that old man.”

Fancy slapped her hand away. “That was different.”

“What’re you girls whispering about?” asked Madda, eyeing her daughters expectantly as she fried the tomatoes.

“Nothing,” the sisters trilled in unison, smiling their brightest good-girl smiles.

And because I’m nice, here’s a teaser from BLEEDING VIOLET:

I wriggled free of the queen, covered in goo and trying not to stumble in the loose piles of animal bones, wet rock, and mounds of hardhead eggs. Wyatt bounded over to me, dodging long pillars of color where the stalagmites and stalactites had grown together.

“So how was it?” he asked.

I puked.

Wyatt and Shoko laughed.

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s intense, right?”

Shoko swatted me on the back. “Especially once you get past that first stomach.”

Tags: Bleeding Violet, Slice of Cherry, Strange Fruit
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »