Young Adult Book Festival in Round Rock

Event time!! Live in the Austin area? Free this Saturday, May 11th? You better be! YAB Fest (Young Adult Book Festival) is happening in Round Rock! Here's some info for you:

• Doors open at 8:30 AM, the event will be from 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM
• The festival is held at Round Rock high school (300 N. Lake Creek Round Rock, TX 78681)
• Over 20 authors will be in attendance, for a full list click here!
• Books will be available for purchase from The Book Spot
• Did I mention the event is FREE??
• Did I also mention the keynote is none other than David Levithan and Andrea Cremer???

I hope to see you there and please help me spread the word!

40acts: Do Lent Generously

I'm not Catholic, but once every few years I decide to give up something for Lent. I really like the symbolic meaning behind it. One year I gave up coffee. Yes, that wasn't my wisest decision, but I did it! It also introduced me to tea, which I now probably love more than coffee (shhhh). So when I heard about 40acts: Do Lent Generously yesterday, I knew I was going to jump in with both feet.

The idea behind 40acts is that instead of giving up something, you give back something. Every day for 40 days (the duration of Lent), you'll do one random act of kindness. They'll email you an idea every day, but I'm probably going to make up a lot of them on my own. Pay for the person behind me at Starbucks, drop off a donation to a retirement home, donate books to those in need, etc. The possibilities are seriously endless. I'll be Tweeting and Facebooking my acts of kindness for the day, but I'll also blog about it here when I'm done. I can't wait to see what all I'm able to do in 40 days!

I'm asking you to join me on the 40 day kindness quest. Yes, I know it's last minute, but if I can do it you can too! Who's with me?

Fired Up Friday

I haven't done a Fired Up Friday in a while, and when I ran across this quote this week I knew it was perfect. Happy Friday, everyone! What's inspired you this week?

“Each book is a new book. I’ve never written it before and I have to teach myself how to write it as I go along. The fact that I’ve written books in the past seems to play no part in it. I always feel like a beginner and I’m continually running into the same difficulties, the same blocks, the same despairs. You make so many mistakes as a writer, cross out so many bad sentences and ideas, discard so many worthless pages, that finally what you learn is how stupid you are. It’s a humbling occupation.” -Paul Auster 

Post surgery! (some pictures, FYI!)

Holy wow. It's been so long since I've posted I'm not even sure where to start.

I decided a while back to take a few months off of blogging. I was desperately working to try to get my MG novel ready for querying, holidays were fast approaching, blah blah blah. Usual writer life type stuff I'd imagine. Then I finally got a date for my jaw surgery and all my plans came to a screeching halt. I'm proud to say that as of this past Saturday I am officially one month post-op! Hooray! It's been such a fast month.

FYI- I'm about to talk about the surgery and show pics (not of the actual surgery!), so if you're squeamish stop reading!

For those who don't know, I had surgery to realign my top jaw. It's called a LeFort procedure and mine was called a LeFort III because my jaw was split into three places. In all honestly I'm not 100% sure what the surgery entailed. I have a tendency to freak out over medical things so I wanted to know as little as possible pre-surgery.

I tried not to think about it too much, but of course I did. Like, all the time. I didn't know what to expect and the only other surgery I've had was to remove my wisdom teeth. When I signed the paper work the week before and read in bold letters, "This is not a minor surgery!" I kind of started to panic. But the wheels were already in motion and couldn't be stopped.

We had to be at the hospital at 5AM and surgery was scheduled for 7:15. It was an early wake-up call! When it was time to go back to the operating room they gave me a drug that would have an amnesia effect so I wouldn't remember much, but I do remember some things. Weird, random things. I remember the nurse wheeling me to the elevator, but I don't remember the elevator ride. I remember going into the OR and trying to figure out if it looked like Grey's Anatomy (sadly there was no McDreamy). I remember moving from my bed to the OR table and then my mind started making things up. People were talking to me and looking back now I know they weren't there. As the anesthesiologist put me to sleep there was a nice lady to my left that held my hand and told me it would be okay. I never saw her again.

Next thing I remember is being brought to the hospital room. I was told beforehand that I'd stay in recovery until I was awake, talking, etc. but I don't remember any of that. Also at some point I changed from the itchy paper operating room gown to a cotton gown. So I guess somebody helped me change...? Who knows.

The surgery was about three hours and I slept on and off that day, until I got violently sick. Apparently I'm allergic to morphine and it took them a few hours to figure this out. Oy. Once I was switched to another pain medicine I was fine!

My original prognoses was a liquid diet for 4-6 weeks then a soft food diet (mashed potatoes, mac and cheese) for another 4-6 weeks. However, I'm healing so well that for the most part I'm already able to eat anything. Earlier today I had crackers for the first time and it was glorious. It's funny how much I missed crunchy and salty foods.

I go for a post-op appointment tomorrow and we'll see what the surgeon says. I have to wear surgical bands (similar to rubber bands you wear with braces) all the time except when I eat, and they're quite annoying. I'm really hoping he says I don't have to wear them anymore. Or at least not 24/7.

And now, for some photos!

Morning after surgery

Day two

Day three

One week!

Teeth before surgery:

 After surgery (about two weeks post-op, my lips are still numb!)

 All in all I'm very pleased with how everything worked out. I was never in any real pain, just uncomfortable and that didn't last for long. Honestly the worst thing has been the facial numbness. My right nostril and the entire right side of my face is still pretty numb and will be for a few months, apparently.

I know a few of you have said that you've always needed this surgery, and if you're one of them, please go for it. I don't regret it in the slightest, and it's been so, so worth it.

Happy Birthday, Dear Teen Me!

Today my life will change. Not in a huge "nothing will ever be the same again" kind of way, but maybe sort of that way. Today I feel more justified in this path that I've chosen, more validated. Today my first ever published piece is making it way around the country to booksellers and libraries and lovely friends who have been so gracious to buy it in the form of a book called Dear Teen Me. Today, I am a published author. Today, I am a mix of emotions.

I've known for months that this blog post was going to be written. I've written it many times in my head, but never actually typed anything. Never scribbled thoughts down on paper or in notebooks or on bits of napkins. Each time I wrote it differently. Some times I'd write about how insecure I felt as a teen. Some days I'd write about how I'd grow up to marry my high school sweetheart. Other days I'd talk about the time I got my skirt stuck in my panties at church and walked all the way to my pew before anyone told me (long story).

Most days I didn't form my thoughts into words, though. I felt things. The rush of excitement about being published for the first time. The queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach when I remember that I'm the only previously unpublished, unagented person in the book. What if this is my only chance? Gratitude toward my husband for not only putting up with my craziness, but letting me live my dream even when it doesn't make sense sometimes. And also gratitude for every single person in my life that has supported me. People sometimes talk about how writing is a job you do alone, but I disagree; writing is something that I could not do alone. And I don't think it makes me a lesser writer for having said that.

It's funny that even though I've aged on the outside, on the inside I still feel exactly the same as I did when I was 16. I still have those same insecurities and doubtful thoughts about myself that I did then. I find that as an adult I do handle them a bit better. I've come to grips with what it means to be the person I am and whether I like it or not, I have to just be myself. Nobody can do that for me.

So if you're out and about this week, pick up a copy of Dear Teen Me. Inside you'll find over 70 letters of love, loss, depression, eating disorders, anxiety, and many, many more (there's happy ones too, I swear!). When you're done reading it, give it to your daughter, your son, your next door neighbor, donate it to your local library. Or, you know, keeping it for yourself isn't a bad idea either. ;)

Fired Up Friday

If y'all will remember last week's post, I'm still obsessed with this table. I've thought about it off and on all week. What I'd need to make one similar, if I even could make one similar (because I'm not going to lie and pretend that I know anything about woodwork). I was out thrifting with Andrea yesterday and we ran across this table.

I fell in love immediately. It was perfect. No it's not refurbished barn wood, but I loved it anyway. And the chairs! I wouldn't even need to recover them. I ended up leaving without the table because I wanted to think about it and talk to my husband to see what he thought. He didn't care, so I made plans to be at the thrift store as soon as they opened today. I thought about the table all night. What if it's already sold? What if someone is looking at it when I get there? After a restless night's sleep, I stood outside their door waiting for them to open at 10AM. I peeked in the window and there was my table! Without a sold sign! I quickly purchased it (after talking the store manager into knocking $20 off the price!) and then realized... I own a Beetle. How am I supposed to get this thing home? Well, you'd be surprised how much you can fit in the hatchback of a Beetle if you're creative. ;)

It's home now and I love it. It could use a fresh coat of white paint, but I think I can handle that. I can't wait to have dinner at it tonight!

It's alive!

I've had a terribly rough go of it emotionally lately. Just terrible. We've all been there.

"My writing isn't good enough."
"It'll never be good enough."
"I'll never write a book like "
"What if this doesn't work out? What if I can't make a career out of this?"
"I don't want to work retail for the rest of my life!"
"What if I can't even get a retail job?"
"What? I wrote this? What was I thinking?" 

The list goes on and on. Like I said, just a rough go of it. So to check the mail today and find this?

(ignore the three day unwashed ponytailed hair)

I squeed quite a bit. More than I'm willing to say, actually. I open the book and find my name in it. MY NAME. It's such an honor to be included in this anthology with so many amazing people. To say this was exactly what I needed today is an understatement. In the end I'm doing what I love and following a lifelong dream. Few people get to do that and I know I'm blessed beyond measure.

I'll be blogging more about Dear Teen Me leading up to its release in October, so be on the look out!